328 Wonders of the Bird World 



with our guns over the potato-grounds. After lunch-time 

 shooting was permitted on Sandy Island, which lies about 

 a mile and a half from the main rock, and is one of the 

 best bathing-places in Europe ; for if the weather be rough 

 on one side, it is easy to haul the machines over to the calm 

 water on the other side. During the morning the bathing- 

 guests had the island to themselves, and shooting was not 

 permitted till 2 p.m. Sandy Island was always an interest- 

 ing place to visit, for there were sure to be Plovers and 

 Sandpipers, while quite a number of interesting Passerine 

 birds were also procured there, such as Rock-Pipits, Ring- 

 Ouzels, Buntings and Willow Warblers, which frequented 

 the few bushes in the centre of the island. 



If a sea-fog came on it was not so pleasant, and on one 

 occasion we imagined that we should have to spend the 

 night on the island, if the boatmen did not manage to reach 

 us from the rock. This, however, they managed to do, 

 steering by compass, but a white fog in the North Sea is 

 an experience to be remembered, especially if it lasts for 

 four or five days, as it did while we were in Heligoland. 

 Then the time hangs somewhat heavy on one's hands, as 

 not a single bird arrives, and there is nothing to shoot, and 

 not a specimen to prepare. 



One of our most curious experiences was the Woodcock 

 shooting in the early morning. When the tide was low it 

 was possible to walk round the island, though it was by no 

 means the pleasantest promenade in the world, for the path 

 lay over the debris of rocks which had fallen from the main 

 mass, and as these rocks were wet and covered with sea- 

 weed, the mode of progression was slow, and occasional 

 awkward falls resulted. Each one of the party carried his 

 gun in one hand and a piece of stone in the other, for the 

 Woodcock take refuge in the holes on the side of the rock, 

 and the stones had to be thrown up into the caves to 

 startle the birds. When they came out they proved an 



