100 THE AQUATIC WARBLER. 



not even excepting the masterpieces of John 

 Hancock and Pickhardt in this country. Every 

 one, therefore, expected that this celebrated 

 collection would be fittingly housed, perhaps in 

 the National collection at Berlin, or at least 

 that some small regard would have been bestowed 

 on the preservation of a series of ornithological 

 specimens, which belonged not to Germany alone, 

 but to the whole scientific world. It may be 

 hoped, therefore, that the account of the present 

 neglected condition of the Gatke ?;ollection, pub- 

 lished last year by Dr. Hartlaub, one of the 

 leading authorities in Germany, may wake up 

 the authorities of Heligoland to a sense of the 

 responsibility under which they lie as custodians 

 of one of the most interesting and important 

 series of birds in the world. 



To the man who made the formation of 

 this collection the aim and object of his life, it 

 must be saddening to see the fruits of his toil so 

 little cared for ; but he has this consolation — that 

 the specimens have been so carefully examined 

 and studied by dozens of European ornitholo- 

 gists, that, even if they perish, the record will 

 survive ; while his life-long observations on the 



