98 THE AQUATIC WARBLER. 



The island has been so often described, espe- 

 cially by Mr. Seebohm, that most of my readers 

 must have read about it. Since England sur- 

 rendered it to Germany, a considerable difference 

 in the appearance of the island has, so I hear, 

 taken place; but one feature in this island will 

 never change, and it will always be a haven of 

 rest to the many birds which are crossing the sea 

 on their migrations, though whether their occur- 

 rences will meet again with such a recorder as the 

 veteran ornithogolist, Heinrich Gatke, is a matter 

 of grave doubt. For more than forty years this 

 celebrated naturalist has lived on the rock in the 

 North Sea, and during that time he has kept a 

 continuous record of the migrations of the birds, 

 which in spring and autumn, pass over Heligo- 

 land. On the cession of the island to Germany, 

 Mr. Seebohm made a liberal offer for the Gatke 

 collection, which he wished to present to the 

 British Museum, as an illustration of the phe- 

 nomenon of the migration of European birds, 

 from north to south and from east to west, as 

 it takes place every year in the North Sea. 



Some agitation, however, took place among the 

 German naturalists — at least, so it is said — over 



