-184 
in the North. Every fall a still greater 
death-toll is exacted when the return 
journey is made. 
Light-houses are scattered every few 
miles along the more than 3,000 miles 
of our coast-line, but two light-houses— 
Fowey Rocks and Sombrero Key—are 
responsible for far more bird tragedies 
than any others. The reason is twofold: 
their geographic position and the char- 
acter of their lights. Both are situated 
at the southern end of Florida, where 
countless thousands of birds pass each 
year to and from Cuba. Both lights are 
of the first magnitude, on towers 100-140 
feet high, and Fowey Rocks has a fixed 
white light, the deadliest of all. 
A red light or a rapidly flashing one 
repels the birds, but a steady white light 
piercing the storm and fog proves irre- 
sistible. From whatever direction they 
approach they veer to windward, and 
then, flying against the wind, seek the 
object of their infatuation. The larger 
part do not strike with sufficient force to 
injure themselves, but, like great moths, 
they flutter in and out of the light’s rays, 
and finally settle on the platform or 
framework to await the abatement of 
the storm or the coming of sufficient day- 
light to enable them once more to orient 
themselves. 
NEIGHBORS IN WINTER AND REMOTE 
STRANGERS IN SUMMER 
The two maps on pages 183 and 185 
show the extremes of direct and circui- 
tous routes of migration. All black-poll 
warblers winter in South America. Those 
that are to nest in Alaska strike straight 
across the Caribbean Sea to Florida 
and go northwestward to the Mississippi 
River. Then the direction changes and 
a course is laid almost due north to 
northern Minnesota, in order to avoid 
the treeless plains of North Dakota. But 
when the forests of the Saskatchewan 
are reached, the northwestern course is 
resumed and, with a slight verging to- 
ward the west, is held until the nesting 
site in the Alaska spruces is attained. 
The cliff swallows are winter neigh- 
bors in South America of the black-poll 
warblers. But when in early spring na- 
ture prompts the swallows who are to 
OUR GREATEST TRAVELERS 
nest in Nova Scotia to seek the far-off 
land where they were hatched, they begin 
their journey to that region—which is 
situated exactly north of their winter 
abode—by a westward flight of several 
hundred miles to Panama. Thence they 
move slowly along the western shore 
of the Caribbean Sea to Mexico and, 
still avoiding any long trip over water, 
go completely around the western end of 
the Gulf. Hence as they cross Louisiana 
they are moving in the opposite direction 
from that in which they started. A 
northeasterly course from Louisiana to 
Maine, and an easterly one to Nova 
Scotia, completes their spring migration. 
This circuitous route has added more 
than 2,000 miles to the distance traveled. 
THE WARBLER TRAVELS AT NIGHT, THE 
SWALLOW BY DAY 
Why should the swallow elect so much 
more roundabout a route than that taken 
by the warbler? The explanation is sim- 
ple. The warbler is a night migrant. 
Launching into the air soon after night- 
fall, it wings its way through the dark- 
ness toward some favorite lunch station, 
usually several hundred miles distant, 
where it rests and feeds for several days 
before undertaking the next stage of its 
journey. Its migration consists of a 
series of long flights from one feeding 
place to the next, and naturally it takes 
the most direct course between stations, 
not deviating for any body of water that 
can be compassed at a single flight. 
On the other hand, the swallow is a 
day migrant. Little and often is its rule. 
It begins its spring migration several 
weeks earlier than the warbler and 
catches each day’s rations of flying in- 
sects during a few hours of slow evolu- 
tions, which at the same time accomplish 
the work of migration. It keeps along 
the insect-teeming shores, and the 2,000 
extra miles thereby added to the migra- 
tion route are but a tithe of the distance 
covered in pursuit of its daily food. 
IDIOSYNCRASIES IN MIGRATION ROUTES 
How migrating birds find their way 
over the widespread regions lying be- 
tween their winter and summer homes 
has always been one of the tantalizing 
