Bb'ds of East Prussia. 355 



air, and where the cries of the Eagle and the Peregrine Falcon 

 are more familiar than the shouts of men. 



This variety of scenery in connection with the compara- 

 tively sparse population (only 188 to the square mile) supplies 

 the necessary conditions of life for many animals. Every 

 winter wolves pay unwelcome visits to the forests near the 

 Russian frontier ; not very long ago the lynx did the same 

 (see Altum, ' Forstzoologie/ vol. i., and Hartert, ' Feinde 

 der Jagd/ p. 118), and even now the forests on the Kurische 

 Haff and round the Zehlau-Bruch are the home of the 

 huge Elk. 



The north-eastern character of the fauna is obvious in all 

 the orders of animals, as is proved by the occurrence of 

 such forms as Carabus menetriesi and Dytiscus lapponicus, 

 for instance, among the beetles, Argynnis laodice and others 

 among the lepidoptera, and Lepus variahilis among the 

 mammals. 



So early as in the past century there were published 

 many notes about the birds of East Prussia. The writings 

 of the ornithologist J. T. Klein, 1760-1766, contain many 

 notes from the eastern parts of Prussia, and a long and 

 interesting list of the birds inhabiting Prussia is given in 

 Bock^s '' Preussische Ornithologie,^^ in the ' Naturforscher ' 

 of 1776, 1778, and 1779. Of course there are many mis- 

 takes in these old works ; some names, many of which are not 

 binomial, are unintelligible, and many even common species, 

 especially among the small birds, are not noticed. Subse- 

 quently to these old authorities there have been published 

 many useful notes about the ornis of East Prussia, though 

 many more about West Prussia, and lists of the birds inhabit- 

 ing both provinces, are given by Ebel (1823) and by Rathke 

 (1846). But no recent attempt has been made to furnish a 

 complete list of the birds that at present inhabit this country, 

 except by the writer of tliis article, who published in the 

 ' Mittheilungen des ornithologischen Vereins in Wien,' 1887, 

 a list of the birds of East and West Prussia under the 

 title " Yorlaufiger Versuch einer Ornis Preussens.^' This 

 article was published during my trip to Sumatra and India, 



2a2 



