374 Roberts, A Lapland Longspur Tragedy. [oct 



were a number of dead birds, and others lay in the eaves-trough of 

 still another building. 



It was stated that nearly every family in the town had captured 

 from two or three to a dozen or more live birds and that after they 

 had been eared for for a short time they flew off as well as ever. 

 Thirty-six hours after the storm twenty-one live birds were counted 

 harboring in one of the lumber yards. A German farmer living 

 a half mile northwest of the town saw six birds at his place on the 

 morning of the 14th; four were dead and two alive. The latter 

 he caught, took them in the house and later they flew away. 



In view of his experience at Worthington, Dr. Dart made an 

 examination of the ice on a small lake a half mile or so from Slayton, 

 but found no dead birds there. 



Dr. Davis of Slayton reported that the day following the storm 

 he drove forty miles east of the town and did not see any dead birds 

 outside of the village. He, however, saw flock after flock of Long- 

 spurs, and thinks that he never before saw so many of these birds 

 at this time of the year. On the morning of the 14th he picked up 

 fifty dead birds in a space twenty-five by fifty feet behind a store. 

 He thought the greatest destruction was in the central part of the 

 town. 



Dr. Lowe, however, said that dead and live birds were all over 

 town and that his children picked up sixty-one in his door yard 

 and that many still remained. He counted twenty-one on the 

 ground under one lamp-post. Dr. Lowe and the editor of the local 

 paper reported that there were many birds perched on the window 

 sills all over town early in the morning after the storm. 



The Slayton town marshal said that on the afternoon of the 13th 

 he saw large flocks of small birds on a hill north of town. He first 

 noticed the birds at night a little after nine o'clock. The birds 

 seemed to come from the east and were circling over the town and 

 twittering as though confused and lost. Between nine and ten, he 

 saw many strike windows and fall dead or stunned. After 10 p. m. 

 there were only three street lights burning and around these lamps 

 the dead birds were most numerous. On the following morning 

 most of the dead birds were under the snow. Three or four days 

 after the occurrence many of the birds were still flying about the 

 town. 



