ORNITHOLOGY 



213 



another, and the dependence of one in- 

 dividual species to another, which may 

 at times seem at variance, to make a 

 complete harmony of the whole. The 

 tendency of growth and development 

 of all life is onward and upward when 

 it is left to work itself out in accord- 

 ance with nature's laws. New life is 

 being constantly evolved as it has al- 

 ways been, and what we are pleased to 

 call "the balance of nature" is more 

 often disturbed by an act pr through 

 an agency of man than through any 

 other cause. 



Why, then, should we ask, "Of what 

 particular value is this or that bird?" 

 or "What good does this flower or this 

 animal do?" To yearn for knowledge 

 is an excellent thing, and to search for 

 the mysteries of animal or vegetable 

 life is praiseworthy, but because we 

 cannot answer our own questions, we 

 should not proceed to exterminate the 

 objects of our study. This is precisely 

 what is being done when we advocate 

 the destruction of certain birds for no 

 other reason than our failure to mea- 

 sure their value, or to understand the 

 cause for their existence. 



Could we but know one bird, one 

 tree or one flower, we should have 

 learned more than the universities can 

 teach us, for we should know life. Let 

 us stand in awe of those things that 

 we cannot comprehend, and let us be 

 slow to destroy that which it is not 

 within our power to replace. 



Telescopic Observation of Migrating 

 Birds at Paterson, New Jersey. 



Paterson, New Jersey. 

 To the Editor: 



I lately witnessed a remarkable flight 

 of migrating birds, of which a descrip- 

 tion may be of interest. 



On the night of October 7th at my 

 home here, I was looking at the moon, 

 then a little more than half full, through 

 a telescope affording a magnification 

 of thirty-six diameters, and was sur- 

 prised to see what appeared to be dark 

 specks passing before my eyes with 

 considerable frequency, I soon noticed 

 that the specks had a realistic appear- 

 ance and that they passed in almost 

 exactly the same direction — a little 

 west of south. Upon trying an eye- 



piece of x 200 I found that these 

 "specks" were resolved into flying 

 birds. While each bird remained in 

 the field of view for an exceedingly 

 short time and while they appeared on- 

 ly as silhouettes against the moon, and 

 I could not distinguish their kind or 

 color, their outlines suggested those 

 of a robin, but seemingly with a longer 

 tail, and I should judge that they were 

 considerably larger. I feel that they 

 must have been at an immense height 

 — perhaps several miles — and there 

 were probably thousands of them in 

 flight. 



It was impossible to determine the 

 width of the flying column, as only 

 those that flew between the moon and 

 the telescope could be seen, but as an 

 estimate I should say that I saw on 

 the average rather more than one bird 

 a second when the whole moon was 

 taken in the field of view. At times 

 several passed over the moon's face at 

 once and again perhaps ten seconds 

 would elapse without a bird being seen. 

 While all were high, some seemed con- 

 siderably higher than others ; perhaps, 

 as an extreme, twice as high. 



The night was fine, with a slight 

 chill in the air, I first saw the birds at 

 about half past seven in the evening 

 and from then until half past ten I 

 looked at the moon at frequent inter- 

 vals and the birds were always passing 

 at about the same rate. 



Possibly you or some of your readers 

 may be able to suggest what kind of 

 birds they probably were. 



H. R. Fenner, 



The migrants referred to in this in- 

 teresting observation may have been 

 cuckoos or brown thrashers. Night- 

 hawks and whippoorwills might also 

 be passing through that territory at 

 the time mentioned. The determina- 

 tion of the species from the foregoing 

 remarks is, of course, only a conjecture. 

 We should be glad to receive other re- 

 ports of this nature. — H. G. H. 



Start early to put out food for the 

 birds, and be sure to keep up the sup- 

 ply through the winter. While thus 

 employed you cannot fail to get much 

 enjoyment in watching and studying 

 their ways. 



