HERLUF WINGE MORTENSEN 515 



The trip to Ringk0bmg Fjord, with Dr. S. Rambusch and Winge, 

 is one of my dearest memories. It was the first time that I had the 

 opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted with Winge, and I 

 was deeply impressed at seeing his excitement and joy over the mar- 

 velously rich bird life which makes this particular spot one of the 

 brightest jewels in the natural scenery of our country to the lover of 

 nature. He was not a closet philosopher as one might be inclined to 

 believe from a first superficial impression. It was not merely old 

 bones that he knew and could decipher, perhaps better than any- 

 body else in the world; living nature as well he knew thoroughly, 

 and loved it, one might almost say, fanatically * * ♦. Xhe birds 

 and the small mammals attracted him especially. At home, at his 

 villa, he had bought the adjacent site in order to let it remain as 

 waste land, a sanctuary to birds and small mammals, and here, where 

 no hand was ever allowed to "put things in order," but where the 

 weeds were free to spread, obeying only the laws of nature, he found 

 great enjoyment in observing the amazingly rich animal life stirring 

 in this small sanctuary in the middle of the closely-built villa quar- 

 ter. You will understand from this that Winge must have been an 

 ardent advocate of all protection of nature. He fought particularly 

 against the hunters in their fatally misconceived war of extermina- 

 tion on all birds of prey, as his brother had previously done in his 

 excellent booklet " Jaegernes skadelige Dyr " (" The Hunters' Nox- 

 ious Animals "), a new edition of which Winge took charge of and 

 paid for in 1911. 



We have a very beautiful illustration of Winge's love of nature 

 in his will, in which he directed that a fairly large part of his 

 fortune (70,000 kr.) is to be used for purchasing a nature park in 

 the neighborhood of Copenhagen, where animal life shall be abso- 

 lutely protected. He has entrusted the University with this matter, 

 which will, we may be sure, be carried out in strict accordance with 

 his wishes. 



One of the things that made the greatest impression on us who 

 knew Winge was his phenomenal knowledge of the birds' voices. 

 Not merely did he laiow the song of the various birds, but any sound 

 which they can produce he knew, and understood what it meant — 

 their calling for each other, expression of fear, sounds of warning, 

 etc. Winge knew the birds' language, but he also knew the art of 

 making others understand it. One of the first excursions held by 

 the Natural History Association — in 1903 — had the object of study- 

 ing birds' voices under the leadership of Winge. Several of us who 

 joined this excursion remember, I feel sure, with deep joy how he 

 stood there in the freshly leaved-out beech wood in " Ermelunden," 

 teaching us the curious trills of the green warbler — which reminds 

 one of a rattling silver coin. He then led us to "Hvidegaard" 



