THE DANGERS BY THE WAY 



severe storms they are wrecked in untold num- 

 bers. 



A naturalist who chanced to observe such a 

 disaster on the Gulf of Mexico describes it as 

 follows: "April 2, 1881, found me in a small 

 schooner on the passage from Brazos de San- 

 tiago, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama. At about 

 noon of that day the wind suddenly changed 

 from east to north, and within an hour it was 

 blowing a gale; we were now about thirty miles 

 south of the mouths of the Mississippi River, 

 which would bring the vessel on a line with the 

 river and the peninsula of Yucatan. Up to the 

 time the storm commenced the only land birds 

 seen were three Yellow-rumped Warblers that 

 came aboard the day previous, keeping us com- 

 pany the most of the day; but within an hour 

 after the storm broke they began to appear, and 

 in a very short time birds of various species were 

 to be seen in all directions, singly and in small 

 flocks, and all flying toward the Mississippi 

 River. These birds, of course, must have been 

 far overhead and only came down near the sur- 

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