Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Heligoland. 157 
fair progress; and he has intrusted to me the task of trans¬ 
lating it into English and editing it in this country; so that 
it is to be hoped that within the next twelve months the full 
details of his observations made during the last five-and- 
twenty years in this wonderful little island may be before the 
public. 
The authenticity of the Heligoland skins is beyond all 
possible question. During the time I spent on the island, 
from the 23rd Sept, to the 18th Oct., I not only saw enough 
to convince the most sceptical of the bonafides of all con¬ 
cerned, but myself shot or saw in the flesh such a variety of 
birds, that I could almost agree with my friend Mr. Gaetke 
when he stated that he would willingly exchange his collections 
of rare birds shot in Heligoland for those which had passed over 
the island without being shot. It is probable, however, that 
the latter beal* a much smaller proportion to the former in 
Heligoland than in any other place. 
During my short stay on the island I saw quite a little 
epitome of the Petehora birds—Grey Plover, Little Stint, 
Sanderling, Snow-Bunting, Shore-Lark, Blue-throated War¬ 
bler, &c. We shot two Aquatic Warblers, a Little Bunting 
(.Emberiza pusilla), and had four Richard^s Pipits brought to 
us in the flesh. I watched a Phylloscopus superciliosus in Mr. 
Gaetke^s garden for some hours, listened to its call-note, and 
finally shot it. As we breakfasted one morning (2nd Oct.) 
we identified a Great Grey Shrike as it flew past the window 
of our room; and a couple of hours afterwards we bought the 
bird for four groschen. 
The list of Heligoland birds is so varied that many orni¬ 
thologists have doubted its accuracy. The fact is that Heli¬ 
goland is the only part of the world of which the ornithology 
has been exhaustively worked. Every little boy on the island 
is a born and bred ornithologist. Every unfortunate bird 
which visits the island has to run the gauntlet of about forty 
guns, to say nothing of scores of blowpipes and catapults. 
The flight and note of every bird is familiar to every islander. 
Each bird has its own local name in the Heligoland language. 
A new bird is instantly detected. The fisherman steers with 
