152 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



the earth and their twitterings and cries come 

 closely to the ear. We know more of the night 

 flyers than of those of the day because of the 

 data provided by the lighthouse keepers. Thus 

 two ornithologists, standing on the narrow bal- 

 cony surrounding the torch held by the Statue of 

 Liberty in New York Harbor and which used to be 

 lighted with a powerful steady light, on one night 

 in the migrating season saw not less than thirty 

 thousand birds in the small area of the gleams of 

 that light. 



"A remarkable opportunity of seeing migrating 

 birds occurred in Philadelphia, on March 27, 1906, 

 when an immense lumberyard caught fire on a 

 cloudy night. Like a searchlight it illumined the 

 bird armies flying overhead. When the fire was 

 at its height, within the glow of the illumination, 

 there were never less than two hundred birds in 

 sight at once, flying north steadily. 'They flew,' 

 writes Stone, who saw the occurrence, 'in a great, 

 scattered, widespread host, never in clusters. Far 

 otf in front of me I could see them coming as mere 

 specks, twinkling like stars, and gradually growing 

 larger as they approached until their wings could 

 be distinguished as they passed overhead. Over 

 all the illuminated area and undoubtedly beyond 



