Abstract
MINOR discharges were used to arouse the sea-birds of Heligoland so as to avoid their destruction in the greater explosions which marked the destruction of the fortifications of the island. The island is to revert to its pre-war use as an ornithological centre for migration studies. The nesting birds of Heligoland are comparatively few : its importance in the North Sea off the Elbe estuary lies in the facilities it has offered for the study of bird migration during spring and autumn. The Heligoland design of bird recovery trap, originally adapted for bird-ringing pursuits off South Wales, is being utilized in the formation of a chain of independent bird-study stations around the British Isles at Fair Island, the Spurn, Lundy Island, Milford Haven and elsewhere. As many as9,000 starlings were caught, marked and released on Heligoland during one pre-war migration in the studies organised by the German State Biological Bureau under the direction of Dr. Rudolf Drost and Dr. Shildmacher. In nine days on one occasion 1,130 birds were ringed : these included 271 blackbirds, 220 song thrushes, 105 redbreasts and 144 skylarks. The German Ministry of Agriculture helped to finance these studies.
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