THE OSPHKY. 77 



around the light striking against it, not always with sufficient force to kill 

 themselves, but steadily the merry party in the pool decreased till only one 

 was left. Then one morning he was not there. Six of them reposed in my 

 cabinet, the light-house cat having picked up the seventh. 



During gales or extremely stormy weather l)irds do not, to my knowl- 

 edge, fly over the ocean, and if they^are l)lown ott' the land they are speedily 

 beaten down into the sea and drowned. 



Even the most typical ocean birds succumb to the violence of the ele- 

 ments at such times as is fully attested by the numbers of dead Petrels to be 

 found on the beach after every winter storm. 



Now having stated that birds are neither hurled against the light by the 

 wind nor attracted by its brilliancy it remains for me to show how they do 

 meet their death, but first it is necessary to explain the general construction 

 of light-houses or that part of their construction which bears on this subject. 



Light-houses vary considerably in their ajjpearance, but all of them have 

 a tower upon which the light is displayed. This tower may be a separate 

 structure by itself or it may rise out of the roof of the keeper's dwelling. 

 It may be round or square, tall or short, hut with very few exceptions it is 

 painted white. The tower is surmounted by an octagon structure of glass and 

 iron known as the "lantern," inside of which is the illuminating apparatus. 

 All around on the outside of the lantern runs an iron balcony three feet wide 

 and on the outer edge of this balcony is an iron balustrade about three and a 

 half feet high. Some of the large lights have a second balcony about ten 

 feet below the first and the intervening space is sheeted with iron and known 

 as the "drum". All this iron, including the drum, is painted black, and when 

 the light is in operation on dark nights at two hundred yards distant the white 

 painted tower is indistinctly visible, but the black upper-structure cannot be 

 seen at all. This gives the light the appearance of being suspended in mid-air. 

 This is just how the birds see it and there is no doubt in my mind but that 

 they take it for the moon, a star, or other harmless heavenly body. 



In the fog and darkness it is the only fixed point by which they can steer 

 and so they fly toward it. If in doubt and uncertainty they hold their head- 

 long course too long and in their last extremity try to save themselves by a 

 rapid swerve to right or left they crash against the unseen iron balustrade; if 

 they try to save themselves by a dive below the light they meet a more certain 

 death against the invisible iron drum. This is how ninety per cent of the 

 birds are killed, but for every one killed hundreds pass unharmed. 



Once in a while a single bird, usually a duck, will crash straight through 

 the glass. The rest of the birds killed belong to the famslies having slow and 

 irregular flight such as the Finches, Warblers, and smaller Petrels. 



Considering the large number of Finches that come to a light, but com- 



