144 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
theless this trip is successfully made twice each year by 
countless thousands of the warblers of the Mississippi 
Valley. 
‘“‘ Probably there are many short zigzags from one fa- 
voured feeding-spot to another, but the general course 
between the summer and winter homes is as straight as 
the birds can find without missing the usual stopping- 
places. 
Accidents during Migration 
“Migration is a season full of peril for myriads of winged 
travellers, especially for those that cross large bodies of 
water. Some of the shore-birds, such as Plover and 
Curlew, which take long ocean voyages, can rest on the 
waves if overtaken by storms, but woe to the luckless 
warbler whose feathers once became water-soaked, — 
a grave in the ocean or a burial in the sand of the beach 
is the inevitable result. Nor are such accidents in- 
frequent. A few years ago on Lake Michigan a storm 
during spring migration piled many birds along the 
shore. 
“Tf such a disaster could occur on a lake less than a 
hundred miles wide, how much greater might it not be 
during a flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Such a catas- 
trophe was once witnessed from the deck of a vessel, 
thirty miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River. 
Large numbers of migrating birds, mostly warblers, 
had accomplished nine-tenths of their long flight, and 
were nearing land, when they were caught by a ‘norther’ 
with which most of them were unable to contend, and, 
falling into the Gulf, were drowned by hundreds. 
