160 Mr. H. Seebolim on the Ornithology of Heligoland. 



house. As I crossed the potatoe-fields birds were continually- 

 getting up at my feet. Arrived at the lighthouse, an in- 

 tensely interesting sight presented itself. The whole of the 

 zone of light within range of the mirrors was alive with birds 

 coming and going. Nothing else was visible in the darkness 

 of the night but the lantern of the lighthouse vignetted in 

 a drifting sea of birds. From the eastern darkness clouds of 

 birds were continually emerging in an uninterrupted stream ; 

 a few swerved from their course, fluttered for a moment as 

 if dazzled by the light, and then gradually vanished with the 

 rest in the western gloom. Occasionally a bird wheeled 

 round the lighthouse and then passed on ; and occasionally 

 one fluttered against the glass, like a moth against a lamp, 

 tried to perch on the wire netting, and was caught by the 

 lighthouse-man. I should be afraid to hazard a guess as to 

 the hundreds of thousands that must have passed in a couple 

 of hours ; but the stray birds that the lighthouse-man suc- 

 ceeded in securing amounted to nearly three hundred. The 

 scene from the balcony of the lighthouse was equally inter- 

 esting. In every direction birds were flying like a swarm of 

 bees, and every few seconds one flew against the glass. All 

 the birds seemed to be flying up wind ; and it was only on the 

 lee side of the light that any birds were caught. They were 

 nearly all Skylarks. In the heap captured was one Redstart and 

 one Reed- Bunting. The air was filled with the warbling cry of 

 the Larks ; now and then a Thrush was heard ; and once a 

 Heron screamed as it passed by. The night was starless, and 

 the town was invisible ; but the island looked like the out- 

 skirts of a gas-lighted town, being sprinkled over with bril- 

 liant lanterns. Many of the Larks alighted on the ground 

 to rest, and allowed the Heligolanders to pass their nets over 

 them. About 3 o^clock a.m. a heavy thunder-storm came on, 

 with deluges of rain ; a few breaks in the clouds revealed the 

 stars ; and the migration came to an end, or continued above 

 the range of our vision. 



But interesting as field-work was on Heligoland, cabinet- 

 work in Mr. Gaetke's studio was still more so. There is pro- 

 bably no more interesting local collection in the world. Mr. 



