COURSE OF MIGRATION IN HELIGOLAND 9 



Rail is now very numerous, the Spotted Crake is met with pretty 

 frequently, while the sprightly Moor Hen is caught now and again 

 in the throstle bush. The appearance of the Common Coot is, 

 on the other hand, quite exceptional. 



On exceptionally fine warm days the cheerful kutt-kutt-kutt 

 of the Dotterel, now on the wing in smaller or larger companies, 

 may be heard, and in the course of the month these birds are 

 shot abundantly while sitting about on the fields ; at the beginning 

 of the month the less handsomely coloured males only are met 

 with, but from its middle onwards the females, noticeable by the 

 handsome markings of the head, form the predominating majority. 

 Very fine examples of the Golden and Grey Plovers, in full 

 breeding plumage, are met with almost daily, though on account 

 of their extreme shyness they are not often killed; examples of 

 the Bar-tailed Godwit are seen only in exceptional instances, and 

 the Black-tailed Godwit is equally rare. On the shore of the 

 Dune, or Sandy Island, the Turnstone, the Dunlin, the Knot, and 

 the Sanderling abound, though the two last species are but rarely 

 seen in the pure summer plumage. The Turnstone occurs more 

 frequently in this stage of plumage, and the remaining species in 

 great abundance. While the small Black-breasted Dunlin predomi- 

 nates on the shore of Sandy Island, Schinz's Sandpiper frequents 

 almost exclusively a small rain-water pond on the upper plateau, 

 where also the small and pretty Little Stint is occasionally shot ; 

 in the summer plumage this bird is, however, extremely rare on 

 the Dune. 



Besides the above-named birds, the Whimbrel and the Oyster- 

 catcher are seen very frequently, the latter even occasionally making 

 attempts to breed on Sandy Island, though it never succeeds in 

 rearing the young. 



Of the Terns, the Gull-billed Tern is met with irregularly in 

 the course of the month ; the Sandwich Tern, the Arctic Tern, and 

 the Common Tern, occur in great quantities, but of the Lesser 

 Tern and Black Tern only solitary examples are seen. 



All is now astir in the breeding-places of the Guillemots ; while 

 numbers of the breeding birds are sitting on their eggs, thousands 

 not thus occupied fly in uninterrupted confusion down and along 

 the sides of the cliff, unfolding a wonderful picture of Northern 

 bird-life. The Razorbill breeds at a spot somewhat more remote, 

 while the presence now and then of examples of the Common 

 Puffin adds an additional charm to the scene. A few pairs of these 

 last-named birds bred in the island about fifty years ago ; this is 

 unfortunately no longer the case, as the breeding birds were taken 

 away from the nests. 



