^°''m6^"^] Conesvondence. 457 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Present Work of Gerhard Heilmann. 



Editor of 'The Auk,' 



It requires over a month to get a letter through fi'om Denmark in these 

 days of the senseless and destructive war in Europe. My last one from the 

 distinguished Danish ornithologist, Gerhard Heilmann, was posted at 

 the Sanatorium on the Nakkebolle Fjord, on the north coast of Denmark, 

 on the 12th of last July, and it did not come into my hands until the 15th 

 of August; it had been opened by an English censor and resealed (No. 

 4108). 



This letter contains some very interesting notes that go to show that 

 ornithology is not entirely extinct in Europe in these turbulent times. 

 Among other matters, Mr. Heilmann writes me that he has built for him- 

 self, on the shore of the fjord, a small, one-room house of wood (3X5 

 meters), with a glass skylight. In this he paints his magnificent bird pic- 

 tures during all kinds of weather. As he was penning his letter to me in this 

 room, gulls and terns were constantly passing over his glass roof, and from 

 his small window he could see yellow-hammers, black-birds, goldfinches, 

 two species of wagtails (white and yellow), linnets, "and also a single 

 nightingale seeking food for its young in its nest in the meadow near by." 

 He says further that during June (1916), the woods immediately to the 

 rear of his hut was filled with many kinds of birds, and their "morning 

 concert was marvelous." 



In addition to this hut he has built himself a very large wire aviary for 

 gulls and ducks. This structure extends out over the waters of the fjord 

 for a distance of fifteen meters, so that, when he is sitting in this cage, he 

 can study many species of land and water birds at very close range. He 

 is taking extensive notes on the variations they exhibit, as they fly, swim, 

 or walk close to him. To study the big birds of prey, he has built a still 

 larger cage, and he contemplates the building of one as big as both the 

 others combined, in the near future, in which he wiU keep for study a 

 number of species of the herons of Europe. 



Mr. Heilmann will soon pubUsh an article in Copenhagen on Podiceps 

 griseigena, which he has painted life size, swimming under the surface of 

 the water, "a very difficult task." This article will be beautifully illus- 

 trated by half-tones (colored) of the living bird, with other illustrations. 



I beUeve it will be of interest to American ornithologists to learn that 

 Mr. Heilmann has given to Mrs. Shufeldt and myself the sole right of 

 translating into EngUsh his superb work on 'The Origin of Birds,' which, 

 when published, will be the only English translation of the volume. Ar- 

 rangements have been made with its original pubhshers at Copenhagen to 

 send on the blocks for the 215 figures illustrating the work; so that now 



