S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Heligoland. Here it was our good fortune to be a witness of the autumn passage of the Hooded 

 Crow, which took place not as one would have expected in the direction of north to south, but from 

 east to west. We had previously been acquainted with the species only in the British Islands, and, 

 beyond an occasional autumn bird killed on the south coast, we had not had much opportunity for 

 personally observing its habits. On arriving in Heligoland, therefore, we were not a little pleased on 

 hearing that in a few days the Nebel-kralie might be expected, and we were informed that, if necessary, 

 a cart-load of specimens would be easily obtainable. We had previously offered to buy specimens 

 from the inhabitants at sixpence a head ; and the supply, when once the migration had set in, fully 

 justified our friend Mr. Gatke's experience that even a cart-load of Crows could be obtained, and our 

 series of specimens was soon considered sufficient. 



Early one morning we were taking our usual stroll along the island when we came upon a fine 



HOODED CROW. 



Hooded Crow lying dead upon the jacket of a peasant, whose gun, placed at the side, showed the way 

 in which the bird had been brought down. Heligoland consists, as most of our readers will know, of 

 a sandstone rock standing alone in the middle of the sea. The town nestles under the shelter of the 

 eastern part of the rock ; but the governor's house, and a considerable number of streets and 

 buildings, including the church, are perched upon the eastern end of the rock itself; this being its 

 widest part. 



The rest of the island, on which there is very little depth of soil, consists of potato fields, from 

 which, during the latter part of our stay, the Heligolanders were busily engaged in digging up their 

 store for the coming winter. Nearly every man as he worked in his little patch of potato ground had 

 his gun lying on the ground beside him ready for immediate use; and woe to the unfortunate Golden 

 Plover who ventures by his whistle to betray his presence in the vicinity of the island ! Most of the 

 Heligolanders are good shots, and nearly all of them capital imitators of the notes of birds, so that we 

 have often seen a flock of Golden Plover decoyed over the island again and again, until, perhaps, not 

 more than one or two out of a dozen would finally escape with their lives. 



The fact of it is that, with the exception of sheep which are kept for the purpose of supplying the 

 islanders with milk, Heligoland has no animals at all upon it ; hence all the meat that is consumed 



