THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 315 



scientific principles, and this inconspicuous bird had therefore no 

 attractions for me. Glaus Aeuckens saw the bird on the 9th of May 

 1874 in the fields on the Upper Plateau, but it was not shy enough 

 for him to be able to shoot it in such a way as to obtain it in a tit 

 state for preserving. He noticed the bird a few steps in front of 

 him among the potato-stalks, but 011 his attempting to recede to 

 within shooting range it disappeared among the stalks ; while all 

 attempts to shoot it on the wing failed, owing to its invariably 

 alighting again within a distance of eight or ten paces each time 

 after it had been flushed, and finally could neither be roused nor 

 discovered again. Aeuckens described it as a large, rather dark, but 

 entirely unspotted Grasshopper Warbler, and at once recognised it 

 from a skin which was shown him. 



The breeding range of this species seems to embrace Russia, 

 Poland, the Danube districts, and South Germany. Russow notes 

 it for Livonia and Esthonia, and according to Buchner it breeds in 

 the St. Petersburg Circuit it is hence surprising that it is not 

 occasionally met with in Heligoland. The same may be said in 

 regard to Sylvia dumetorum, which, according to Blichner, also, 

 and by no means rarely, breeds around St. Petersburg. It would 

 thus appear that both species adhere, during their autumn migra- 

 tion, to a strict southerly course. 



129. Black-throated Green Warbler 



[GRUNER WALDSANGER]. 

 SYLVICOLA VIRENS, Latham. 1 



tiylvicola virens. Naumann, xiii. ; Blasius, Nachtrdge, 156. 



Black-throated Green Wood Warbler. Audubon, Syn. N. Amer. Birds, 55. 



I must, iii conclusion, introduce under a separate group another 

 Warbler new to Europe, which could not well have been in- 

 cluded in one of the preceding groups. In its own native country 

 this bird belongs to a family very well supplied with members. 

 Audubon enumerates no less than twenty-four species as be- 

 longing to it. An example of this bird, Sylvicola virens, was shot 

 here on the 19th of November 1858 by a boy with a blow-pipe. 

 The bird in question is a fine old male in perfectly fresh well- 

 preserved plumage, and represents the only instance of the occur- 

 rence of the species on this side of the Atlantic. 



The beautiful and attractive plumage of this bird is marked as 

 follows : The crown, back and rump are of a beautiful pure and 



1 Dendrceca nrens (Gmeliii). 



