STRANGE ILLUMINATIONS. 



BIRDS THAT CARRY LIGHTS. 



P. W. H. 



L 



IGHTNING BUGS" and other 

 insects that carry lights are 

 famiiiar in many parts of the 

 country, but who ever heard of 

 birds that carry lights? A strange 

 story is told of the heron's powder 

 patch which makes a two-candle liiijht, 

 which discloses a new idea in bird lore. 

 A belated sportsman returning from a 

 day's sport found himself late in the 

 evening on the edge of a flat or marsh 

 which bordered the path. The rn^oon 

 had not risen, and the darkness was so 

 intense that he was obliged to move 

 slowly and carefully. As he walked 

 along, gun on shoulder, he thought he 

 saw a number of lights, some moving, 

 others stationary. As they were in the 

 river bed, he knew that they could not 

 be lanterns, and for some time he was 

 puzzled; but, being of -an inquisitive 

 mind, he walked down to the water to 

 investigate. 



As the stream was a slow-running, 

 shallow one, he had no difficulty in 

 wading in, and soon convinced himself 

 that the lights were not carried by men, 

 and were either ignes fatui or from 

 some cause unknown. To settle the 

 apparent mystery he crept as close as 

 he could, took careful aim and fired. 

 At the discharge the lights disappeared, 

 but, keeping his eye on the spot where 

 they had been, he walked quickl)' to it 

 and found, to his amazement, a night 

 heron, upon whose breast gleamed the 

 mysterious light. 



"The sportsman told me of this inci- 

 dent," says a friend who knew him well, 

 "and, while I had often heard of the 

 light on the heron's breast, I never be- 

 fore could find anyone who had person- 

 ally witnessed the phenomenon, conse- 

 quently I propounded numerous ques- 

 tions. The observer saw the light dis- 

 tinctly; first at a distance of at least 

 fifty yards, or one hundred and fifty 

 feet. There were three lights upon 

 each bird^ — one upon each side between 

 the hips and tail, and one upon the 

 breast. 



"He saw the lights of at least four in- 

 dividuals, and was so interested that he 

 observed them all carefully and, as to 

 their intensity, stated to me that each 

 light was the equivalent of two candles, 

 so that wtien he aimed he could see- 

 the gun-sight against it. 



"As to whether the bird had control 

 of the light, he believed he did, as he saw 

 the lights open and shut several times 

 as he crawled toward the birds and he 

 stopped when the light disappeared and 

 crept on when it came again. The light 

 did not endure long aiter the bird was 

 shot, fading away almost immediately. 

 In color the light was white and re- 

 minded the sportsman of phosphores- 

 cent wood. 



"Stories of luminous birds have been 

 related by sportsmen occasionally, but, 

 so far as I know, exact facts and data 

 have never before been obtained on this 

 most interesting and somewhat sensa- 

 tional subject. A friend in Florida 

 told we that he had distinctly seen a 

 light moving about in a flock of cranes 

 at night and became satisfied that the 

 light was the breast of the bird. An- 

 other friend informed me that on en- 

 tering a heron rookery at night he had 

 distinctly observed lights moving about 

 among the birds." 



That herons have a peculiar possi- 

 ble light-producing apparatus is well 

 known. These are called powder-down 

 patches, and can be found by turning 

 up the long feathers on the heron's 

 breast, where will be found a patch of 

 yellow, greasy material that sometimes 

 drops off or fills the feathers in the 

 form of a yellow powder. This pow- 

 der is produced by the evident de- 

 composition of the small feathers, pro- 

 ducing just such a substance as one 

 might expect would become phospho- 

 rescent, as there is little doubt that it 

 does. 



The cranes and herons are not the 

 only birds having these oily lamps, if so 

 we may term them. A Madagascar 

 bird, called kirumbo, has a large patch 



