LUMINOUS BIRDS AND OTHER ANIMALS. Ill 



" Was the light a steady glow ? " 



" It lasted about as long as I could count twenty at 

 moderate speed." 



" What was the color of the light ? " 



"It reminded me of phosphorescent wood, and was 

 whitish." 



When my informant first observed the light, he was a 

 hundred and fifty feet away, and while slowly creeping 

 toward it saw it disappear four times, the intervals between 

 the disappearance and re-appearance being long enough for 

 him to count twenty at a moderate rate ; from which he 

 assumed that the bird has the light more or less under con- 

 trol, and governs it by raising or depressing the feathers that 

 cover the powder-down patches. When he fired at the bird, 

 the light on the breast was so intense that he distinctly 

 saw the sight of his gun against it, and he describes its 

 brilliancy as comparable to that of a lantern or hand-lamp. 

 He did not notice a reflection upon the water, as he was 

 some distance away, and in a recumbent position, which 

 rendered it impossible. The bird fell where it was stand- 

 ing, in six inches of water ; and taking it by the wings, he 

 threw it upon the shore, noticing and watching the three 

 phosphorescent spots, one in front, and one on each side of 

 the hips, between the hips and the tail. The bird died slowly, 

 the light gradually dying out, and disappearing entirely with 

 death ; a fact which I consider to be of the greatest interest, 

 showing that the phosphorescence is not an accidental occur- 

 rence, depending upon a favorable condition of the greasy 

 powder-down patches, or associated entirely with their 

 decomposition, but is essentially due to some physiological 



