4 



CORDEAUX: HELIGOLAND. 



tradition) as of very considerable extent in the year 800, having then 

 not less than seven havens or anchoring-places, and numerous 

 villages and streams. In 1649, actual sur\-ey represents it as 

 reduced to less than one-fourth of its traditional extent. At a 

 comparatively recent period the main island appear^ to have been 

 connected with Sand-insel. and there is also represented near the 

 latter a considerable outlier of solid rock, which has disappeared 

 altogether. 



I found that since my last visit an enterprising Berlin firm has 

 erected a * hft ' between the lower and upper town : this is a decided 

 boon to those who wish to avoid the long wooden staircase of 190 

 steps which gives access to the Oberland. The charge is only ten 

 pfennigs — a Uttle over a penny. On leaving the lift we step on to 

 the terrace-walk, known as the Falm, which flanks the upper town. 

 This is a most pleasant lounge on a fine day : leaning over the low 

 parapet we look down upon Unterland^ a maze of clean bright houses, 

 small gardens, narrow^ alleys, and tree-tops ; beyond these the pier 

 and the ' bright-striped boats at their anchorage : further oft", in the 

 middle of the Sound, are the ' Freia ' and the German gunboat ' Falke.' 

 From this elevated spot an immense round of sea is visible — to-day 

 it is purple along the outer circle, which in the middle distance passes 

 into delicate shades of lavender and violet, in the foreground one 

 broad belt of flashing emerald, streaked with narrow lines of lace-like 

 foam over the shallows of Sand-insel — a fair and lovely scene as seen 

 beneath an azure sky. Over the plants which grov,- along the clifl" the 

 Humming-bird Hawk-moths hang poised or dash erratically to and 

 fro seeking the last-born blossom of the small convolvulus or 

 combind. Many Small Tortoise-shell Butterflies dance in the sun- 

 shine, and the soft summer breeze is musical with twitterings of 

 Martins hawking above the lower town. Following the terrace I 

 turn up Trinit}^ Street — passage it might more fitly be called — and 

 presently am standing in Mr. Gatke's studio, exchanging hearty 

 greetings. The well-remembered bird-cases are there on the walls, 

 containing so many of the rare wanderers to the island, yet there 

 have been considerable and rich additions since my former visit. 

 What a remarkable collection is here brought together from all 

 quarters, remarkable when we consider the great distances many of 

 these wanderers have travelled, also from the large number of species 

 represented. 



Take, for instance, that case of Buntings ; the Heligoland list 

 includes seventeen species against nine known to have visited Great 

 Britain, and there are sixteen of these represented in this one case. 

 Following the arrangement and nomenclature of Mr. Dresser's 



Naturalist, 



