REVIEWS. 269 



IX. Jahresbericht ( 1909) der Vogelwarte Rossitten der Deutschen 

 Ornithologischen Gesellschaft. By Dr. J. Thienemann. 

 Reprint from the Journal fiir Ornithologie, July, 1910, 

 pp. 522-676. 



The present issue of this report is another valuable contri- 

 bution to our knowledge of bird-migration. As hitherto, 

 practically all the species dealt with have a place in tlie British 

 avifauna, but now for the first time the report includes 

 records which directly concern our area. Previously no 

 inter-migration between East Prussia and the British Isles 

 was definitely known to exist, and the new development is 

 naturally of great interest to ornithologists in this country. 



As usual the Report opens with a " General " section, 

 and this includes some interesting remarks on the classic 

 island of Heligoland, to whicli Dr. Thienemann paid a short 

 visit in the autumn of 1909. We may briefly note his 

 comparison of the two localities. Both Rossitten and 

 Heligoland lie in important migration-routes, but while thci 

 former is an " oasis " gladly sought by migrants of all 

 sorts because it affords abundant cover, etc., of a very varied 

 character, the latter is an island resorted to only of 

 necessity, owing to the absence of cover and the great 

 scarcity of food. We v/ish all success to Dr. Thienemann's 

 proposal that Heligoland should be restored to its former 

 position by the establishment of a permanent "Vogelwarte." 

 As he points out, this would not be such a great undertaking 

 seeing that there is already a large Biological (marine) Station, 

 not to mention the museum with many of Gatke's treasures. 



Many pages are taken up with the year's records, classi- 

 fied according to species. Of special interest are the notes 

 on the irruption of Crossbills {L. curvirostra) and on a similar 

 exceptional migration of Great Spotted Woodpeckers (D. 

 major) such as had been previously observed in 1903. Two 

 sections are devoted to the detailed observations made 

 during brief spring and autumn residences in the obser- 

 vation hut at Ulmenhorst, Avhere the Kurische Nehrung is 

 extremely narrow. The hut had not previously been used 

 in spring. 



Most interesting to us is the section which deals with 

 the records obtained by the ringing method. To the Hooded 

 Crow (C. comix) inquiry little has been added, but many new 

 Stork (C. alba) records have come to hand. All the Stork 

 records up-to-date, however, are shortly to be discussed by 

 Dr. Thienemann in a special paper, and we may leave the 

 subject in the meantime. The Black-headed Gulls (L. 

 ridihundus) marked as young birds on the Rossitten " Gull- 



