DANGEE OF AN EAELY EXTINCTION OF SONG BIRDS. 181 



Light-houses are on the increase, and as the birds fly 

 mostly at night, these beacons of safety to man become 

 sources of pecuhar danger to the birds. Thousands 

 have been killed on Bedloe Island, attracted by the 

 light on the Statue of Liberty. It is said that this light 

 can be seen by the naked eye twenty miles or more 

 away. One morning the superintendent picked up 

 1,375 birds that had perished the night previous by fly- 

 ing against the hght. During these flights by night, 

 violent storms beat many to the earth, while thousands 

 perish by being driven out to sea. The earlier migrants 

 often suffer greatly by stress of weather in the spring, 

 not so much with the extreme cold as for the lack of 

 food. When the ground and trees are covered with ice 

 the food supply of many species is almost entirely cut 

 off : it then becomes a question of famine endurance. 



The decrease in larger game also works against the 

 smaller birds. Men and boys, called sportsmen, go out 

 to shoot. If they cannot find quails and plover, robins 

 and bobohnks will do. If there are no pigeons and 

 partridges, larks and flickers may fill their place. If 

 these are scarce, then the smaller birds must become 

 the prey. They came out to shoot and must have their 

 sport. Sport ! oh, cruel misnomer ; how many millions 

 of beautiful, innocent lives have been sacrificed in thy 

 name ! The Sabbath is particularly a day of terror 

 and death to birds. Hundreds of men and boys from 

 cities and villages go out into the country with guns 

 for recreation. They shoot indiscriminately every wild 

 creature they meet. I have found them with dozens of 



