In my Australian reader from primary school in the 1950's there was a story of a barren rocky island 5 miles off the Dutch coast which was inhabitated by persons who looted wrecks which came to grief on a ledge of rocks near the island and murdered the survivors. King William of the Netherlands sent a young lawyer to command the job of cleaning out these land pirates and he successfully did so. Appointed mayor of the island the lawyer planted trees and vegetation suited to the marine winds and it became a haven for migratory birds and later for birds of its own breeding. The story said it became called the Island of Nightingales as this breed became indiginous. It finishes by telling that he is buried in a churchyard on the island where he "lies in a bower of cool green with the trees that he planted dropping their moisture onto his lichen covered grave." My brief examination of the facts suggests that this island may be Texel. Am I possibly correct? If so what was his name as my reader does not give it.

PS: I have been a breeder of Texel sheep here in Tasmania.

James Reilly

Forth, Tasmania,  Australia