THE DANGERS BY THE WAY 



existence of their own chief source of nourish- 

 ment. So, more than ever before, man needs the 

 help of those birds which are nature's principal 

 means of keeping injurious insects from becom- 

 ing unduly abundant. 



As we have already seen, these birds, as a 

 group, are among the greatest of bird travelers. 

 By far the larger number leave the United 

 States in the fall to winter in the tropics, some 

 going south of the Equator. It follows, there- 

 fore, that besides all those dangers that threaten 

 the lives of birds during the nesting season, these 

 feathered allies of ours are also exposed to the 

 great perils of migration. Not only that, but 

 twice each year they must run the gantlet of 

 glaring lighthouses, shadowy towers, and wire 

 entanglements which we seem to have placed in 

 their path with the express object of destroying 

 them. 



If not from a sense of fairness and humanity, 



it seems clear, then, that in our own interests we 



should surely do something to make the lives. of 



this feathered army of insect fighters as safe as 



129 



