THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 553 



barrelled guns, and under very favourable circumstances a party like 

 this may bag as many as two hundred birds in the course of a fore- 

 noon. They are very simple birds, mostly flying quite close up 

 of their own accord; in cases of their not doing so, they are 

 easily decoyed by imitating the movement of birds descending 

 after food, for which purpose one or more dead birds are thrown 

 down upon the water ; or, in the absence of such, a pair of wings 

 tied together will serve equally well. They fly once or twice 

 round the boat, quite close to it, after which, if not killed in the 

 meantime, they resume their former course. These harmless 

 creatures are not even afraid of the firing ; on the contrary, if ten 

 or twenty are wheeling round the boat, and the shooter only goes on 

 shooting them down, more birds will continue to come up. With the 

 convenient breech-loaders now in use the sport must be very easy. 

 In my younger years we had to make shift with the ramrod and 

 percussion-caps, a slow and tedious business, notwithstanding 

 which I often used to bag as many as ninety birds in the course of 

 a forenoon. 



In former years the birds were killed merely for the sake of 

 the flesh and feathers. During November and December they are 

 remarkably fat, and are then considered a delicacy, and although 

 a certain ' Greenland ' l flavour clings to them, nevertheless, 

 at the time when I shot them myself, I used to relish them 

 considerably when prepared in Heligolandish fashion. By this 

 method, some coarse pearl barley is boiled, with water and some 

 salt, over a moderate fire until it is half-cooked, and then spread 

 over the bottom of a stoneware or brass saucepan ; next to this 

 comes a layer of gull, which is covered by a layer of barley ; over 

 this another layer of gull, with its covering of barley, and so on, 

 until the quantity of layers corresponds to the number of individuals 

 in the family; the whole is topped by a layer of dough sprinkled with 

 raisins. This primitive pie is allowed to cook for three hours in a 

 baking oven, and is served at the mid-day meal. In serving, the 

 basin or saucepan is turned upside down over a dish ; its contents, 

 baked to a beautiful brown, and shining with fat, are thus dis- 

 lodged in more or less perfect shape, and certainly present all the 

 appearances of a very tempting dish. 



Since Heligoland has developed into a prominent bathing 

 resort this ' Sea-Gull ' (' See-Mowe '), prettily stuffed, has become 

 an article much in demand as a souvenir of the island. Very 

 large quantities of the bird are, however, specially used, and even 

 exported, for the manufacture of ladies' hats, muffs, and similar 

 articles. 



1 i.e. fishy. 



