250 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. chap. xx. 



the island. Heligoland is a very small place, probably not 



much more than a hundred acres in extent. It is an isolated 

 triangular rock of red sandstone, with perpendicular cliffs 

 two or three hundred feet in height, dropping into a sea so 

 shallow, that at low water you can scramble round the island 

 at the foot of the cliffs. Most of the surface of this rock is 

 covered with rich soil and grass. About a milo from the 

 island is a sandbank, the highest portion covered over with 

 esparto grass, and the lower portions covered by the sea at 

 high tide, reducing the island from perhaps fifty acres to 

 twenty-five. The resident birds on Heligoland and Sandy 

 Island probably do not exceed a dozen species; but in spring 

 and autumn the number of birds that use these islands as a 

 resting-place during migration is so large, that as many as 

 15,000 larks have been known to have been caught there in 

 one night, and the number of species of birds obtained on 

 these two small plots of land equals, if it does not exceed, 

 that of any country of Europe. There are several species of 

 Siberian and American birds which have never been ob- 

 tained in any part of Europe except upon the island of 

 Heligoland. The list of Heligoland birds is so varied, that 

 many ornithologists have doubted its accuracy. No one can 

 visit the island, however, without being convinced of the 

 bona fides of all concerned. The authenticity of the 

 Heligoland skins is beyond all possible question. During the 

 time I spent on the island, from the 23rd of September 

 to the 18th of October, I either shot or saw in the flesh such 

 a variety of birds that 1 could almost agree with my friend 

 Mr. Gatke when he stated that he would willingly exchange 



