154 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



whole long autumn night, and, under special favor- 

 able conditions, it may be seen for several nights 

 in succession. Nor is it by any means confined to 

 narrow limits, for what took place that night, in 

 which birds might have been counted by millions, 

 was noticed 112 miles farther south. ^ ' ' 



He paused for a moment, and when he continued 

 it was in a sadder tone. 



''But there is a dark shadow over the picture. 

 The joyful burst to the nesting site in the far 

 north, or the summer-seeking quest of the fall, is 

 not always a pleasant path. It is full of danger. 

 That aerial highway used in the wake of Summer 

 or the van of Spring is an awful stress and a 

 fearful strain. Migration is the great effort of a 

 bird's life and to many it is their last. The luck- 

 less Sparrow or Warbler whose feathers become 

 water-soaked in a rain-squall while crossing lake 

 or ocean finds a watery grave. A sudden ' norther ' 

 catching a flock of tired birds crossing the Gulf of 

 Mexico will drown whole flocks containing tens of 

 thousands. In one storm on Lake Michigan, the 

 bodies of half a million birds were seen who had 

 perished in the course of a few hours. In Minne- 

 sota, in 1904, in the very height of the migration 

 of Lapland Longspurs, a hardy Arctic bird, there 



