Magnus von Wright was also known for his paintings of birds. Whenever he needed a specimen, he would stop by the Market Square to buy a bird which had been shot by the fishermen. And it was there that he found Finland's first king eider and purchased common pochards, which he had never seen before.
     Magnus observed birds in the Kluuvi bay. There, in the late 1820s, were to be found the first grey herons in Finland. But as a place for birdwatching, the Kluuvi bay, now used as a rubbish dump, was already on the verge of destruction by mid-century.
     One of Magnus's favourite destinations was Vanha-

kaupunki, the Old Town, where he sometimes spent the night at the miller's. In May of 1840, the sky above the Old Town was full of birds: mallard ducks, northern pintails, goldeneyes, widgeons and teals. Magnus bagged a brace of mallards. In August he came back, this time with a binoculars and a gun. Now there were several mallards in flight but the great crested grebes were still less than great fledglings. He returned with a solitary crow.
     During Magnus' lifetime, the black-headed gull was still a rare sight in Finland, but on April 26 1845 he spotted a few of them. It was not until 1864 that a nest was found.