The Audubon Societies 



317 



tory route of birds leading south from the 

 Scandinavian Peninsula and northwestern 

 Russia and Germany. 



As long as this light threw a steady beam, 

 the destruction of birds was not great, but 

 when it was modernized and a high-power 

 flash that can be seen at a distance of 100 



aided b}^ Dr. Burdet, hit upon a plan of 

 erecting a series of parallel iron bars around 

 and just below the light. Here bewildered 

 birds perch and find safety until they can 

 again get their bearings or daylight comes 

 to their rescue. So commodious are these 

 perches that they can give a total seating 



DR. J.\C. THIJSSE, OF HOLLAND 



Dr. Thijsse invented the first practical device for saving the lives of 



bewildered birds at lighthouses 



Photographed by T. Gilbert Pearson 



miles was installed the destruction of bird- 

 life became tremendous. The tower is about 

 200 feet high and stands in the midst of a 

 village well populated with cats, dogs, and 

 bird-eating human inhabitants, who gathered 

 rich harvests of exhausted birds falling to the 

 pavements on foggy nights. 



After various experiments. Dr. Thijsse, 



capacity of 30,000 birds. Dr. Burdet esti- 

 mates that he actually saw in the neighbor- 

 hood of 22,000 birds roosting here at one 

 time. It is interesting further to note that 

 Owls and even Falcons frequently come here 

 at night and catch the birds, but by means 

 of the perches the loss of life has been re- 

 duced to a minimum. Among the species 



