NATURE NOTES. 
1 66 
news spread, and there were crowds of people assembled during the morning, the 
bulk of whom showed the liveliest satisfaction.”* 
We shall await with interest the result of this spirited conduct ; 
meanwhile we commend the action of the Bournemouth Town 
Council to all who wish to see our public rights and our public 
ways preserved. 
The Editor. 
P.S. — Since the above was in type, the attention of the First 
Commissioner has been called to the proceedings of a body of 
gentlemen forming what is called “ The East Sheen Common 
Preservation Society.” They are said to have “ established golf 
links on the common, and loud complaints are made as to the 
manner in which the turf is being burnt and cut down and the 
gravel carted off the common.” Such action on the part of a 
“ Common Preservation Society ” reads like an episode in a 
Gilbert-and-Sullivan opera, but it is not this that has aroused 
public opinion. A certain road over the common, over which 
there is said to be a public right of way, has been blocked by 
this Society, and when the Duchess of York with the infant 
Prince wished to drive across it she was unable to do so, as the 
gate giving admission was locked. We are glad that this has 
happened, as it will certainly cause the matter to be investigated ; 
but we fail to see that any principle is involved in the fact that a 
royal personage is in question. If there be a right of way, any 
one is entitled to use the road, be he prince or pauper ; if not, 
not. We shall await with interest the report of the First Com- 
missioner on the action of this remarkable “ Common Preserva- 
tion Society.” — Ed. N.N. 
MIGRATION AS OBSERVED IN HELIGOLAND.1 
EW are the lovers of birds who are not aware that of 
late years the mystery of migration has been claiming 
unusual attention, and most readers of ornithological 
literature have heard 
something 
of the remarkable 
observations made by Mr. GMke on this subject in Heligoland. 
His book, p>ublished five years ago, was at first only] to be had 
in the original German, but now, thanks to Mr. Rosenstock’s 
excellent translation, is within the reach of English readers. The 
book, a large one, is divided into three parts ; the first and most 
important part deals with the subject of migration generally. It 
may be interesting here to note that the author went to live in 
* It appears from later reports that the Mayor had nothing to do with the 
alteration. 
+ Heligoland as an Ornithological Obse7-vatory, by Heinrich Gatke, translated 
by Rudolph Rosenstock, M.A.Oxon. Published by David Douglas, Edinburgh. 
