^igo^ 1 ^] Roberts, A Lapland Longspur Tragedy. 375 



At Avoca, a little town seven miles southeast of Slayton, Dr. 

 Dart saw dead Longspurs in the streets and on the ice of a small 

 lake near by. 



W. J. Ross, station agent at Heron Lake, twenty-five miles 

 southeast of Slayton, reported that many birds were killed there 

 in the same storm — all Longspurs. 



Information gleaned by personal interview with a man who had 

 been an eye-witness showed that large numbers of Longspurs had 

 been killed on the night in question at Luverne, the county seat 

 of Rock County, and distant thirty miles due west from Worthington. 

 Also that dead birds were to be seen at all points along the railroad 

 between the two places. 



A communication from the postmaster at Sibley, the county seat 

 of Osceola County in northern Iowa, fifteen miles southwest of 

 Worthington, stated that many birds were killed there on the night 

 of the 13th— 14th during a snow storm. On the morning of the 14th 

 he saw from seventy-five to one hundred dead birds as he walked 

 three blocks to the post-office. There were also many live birds 

 unable to fly, some of which stayed about several days. There are 

 no electric lights in Sibley. 



C. A. Kinsey reported by letter from Adrian, a town eighteen 

 miles west of Worthington, that the birds appeared there in the 

 early half of the night, and while he did not think that they were 

 killed in large numbers, many were on the ground through the 

 night and the following morning, unable to fly. 



Reports received from a number of other localities, including 

 letters from John Crawford of Lakefield, John Knox of Jackson, 

 and A. D. Brown of Pipestone, showed, by the negative evidence 

 they furnished, the outside limits of the Longspur flight. In this 

 way it is possible to define fairly well the region within which the 

 destruction took place and it would appear that this area embraced 

 at least fifteen hundred (1500) square miles. There are about 

 forty towns and villages within this region, but many of them are 

 small and probably did not figure largely as centers of bird destruc- 

 tion. 



A brief statement may be offered in regard to the post mortem 

 findings of the dead birds. The bodies of many birds were care- 

 fully examined at all points where observations were made and the 



