X04 From Magazines, &'C. [j^|^ 



mu 

 Oct. 



sought an interview with the authorities of Trinity House. Here 

 they met with most courteous hearing and with permission to 

 have the scheme tried at one or two British hghthouses, the 

 engineers of Trinity House to carry out the work according to the 

 Society's plans and at the Society's expense. St. Catherine's, in 

 the Isle of Wight, and the Caskets, off Alderney, were selected 

 for the experiment. The plan and details of the apparatus had 

 to be adapted and altered for the purpose, and this entailed not 

 a little skill and labour, as the shape of the construction of the 

 building had to be considered. Moreover, it was essential that 

 the light seaward should be in no way interfered with, and perches 

 in the dark were comparatively useless, since the birds are 

 apparently unable to use these. Mr. Thijsse's co-worker, Mr. 

 Burdet, came over from Holland to visit the installation at St. 

 Catherine's in company with members of the R.S.P.B. Council. 

 The autumn migration is not greatly affected at the lighthouses 

 already chosen, the birds being then mostly outward bound ; 

 but the reports received at the end of 1913 were satisfactory. 

 The keepers stated that large numbers of birds had settled on the 

 rests on many nights, and expressed the opinion that the lives 

 of considerable numbers must be saved, because they did, un- 

 doubtedly, as Mr. Thijsse had said, flutter round about the light, 

 and when they found the perches, would remain on them until 

 dawn. 



" The spring of 1914 was exceptionally favourable to migrants 

 arriving on the English coast, owing to the fine clear nights 

 prevalent in April and May. The occasions of mist and cloud 

 and rain were, however, sufficient to prove beyond doubt the 

 value of the scheme. Thousands of birds on these nights, instead 

 of fluttering on weary wings about the baffling light, discovered 

 the long line upon line of perches, and crowded upon these until, 

 with the break of morning, they could safely take wing once more 

 and find the land in whose green woods and hedgerows they were 

 born. It was a strange sight, the Hghthouse-keepers told with 

 evident interest to members of the council, to go into the gallery 

 at night and see these little birds — thousands of little birds — 

 huddled together thickly wherever places could be found, birds 

 of many species and varying sizes, but all alike in their strange 

 passion to reach their native place — some quickset hedge, some 

 primrose-starred wood, some lichen-tinted barn — and in their 

 tiredness of wing and their longing for light and rest. It was, 

 said one witness of the scene, the most wonderful sight he had 

 seen in his life. . . . The installation of bird-perches and 

 resting-places at a lighthouse costs, in the first place, from £60 

 to £100, according to the work required, and the running expenses 

 will probably amount to from £10 to £t^ a year each. For 

 cleaning and other purposes the perches and resting-places have 

 to be taken down and re-erected after and before each migration 

 --that is to say, twice a year — and the labour involved is con- 

 siderable, especially at lighthouses which stand out at sea." 



