XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
it under the skin. With the beginning of the rain their numbers diminished rapidly,* 
but a larger percentage struck, and they also struck harder. 
“I remained on the light-house from ten o’clock until two the next morning. 
During this time fully two hundred birds came against the lantern. Of these at least 
fifty were killed or disabled; and I caught and examined probably fifty. more which were 
too wet or exhausted to fly after dropping on the platform. About forty per cent of 
the specimens identified were Maryland Yellow-throats, forty per cent more Red-eyed 
Vireos, with the remaining twenty per cent made up of Grey-cheeked Thrushes, Olive- 
backed Thrushes, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian Warblers, Ameri- 
can Redstarts and Canadian Warblers. : 
“At the height of the mélée the scene was interesting and impressive beyond 
almost anything that I ever witnessed. Above, the inky-black sky; on all sides, dense 
wreaths of fog scudding swiftly past and completely enveloping the sea which moaned 
dismally at the base of the cliffs below; about the top of the tower, a belt of light 
projected some thirty yards into the mist by the powerful reflectors; and in this belt 
swarms of birds, circling, floating, soaring, now advancing, next retreating, but never 
quite able, as it seemed, to throw off the spell of the fatal lantern. Their rapidly 
vibrating wings made a haze about their forms which in the strong light looked semi- 
transparent. At a distance all appeared of a pale, silvery gray color, nearer, of a rich 
yellow. They reminded me by turns of meteors, gigantic moths, Swallows with sun- 
light streaming through their wings. I could not watch them for any length of time 
without becoming dizzy and bewildered. 
“When the wind blew strongly they circled around to leeward, breasting it in a 
dense throng, which “drifted backward and forward, up and down, like a swarm of 
gnats dancing in the sunshine. Dozens were continually leaving this throng and skimm- 
ing towards the lantern. As they approached they invariably soared upward, and 
those which started on a level with the platform usually passed above the roof. Others 
sheered off at the last moment, and shot by with arrow-like swiftness, while more 
rarely one would stop abruptly and, poising a few feet from the glass, inspect the 
lighted space within. Often for a minute or more not a bird would strike. Then, as 
if seized by a panic, they would come against the glass so rapidly, and in such numbers, 
that the sound of their blows resembled the pattering of hail. Many struck the tin roof 
above the light, others the iron railing which enclosed the platform, while still others 
pelted me on the back, arms, and legs, and one actually became hopelessly entangled in 
my beard. At times it fairly rained birds, and the platform, wet and shining, was 
strewn with the dead and dying.” 
Regarding the routes of migration Prof. Brewster writes: 
‘‘As is well known, there are certain definite routes or paths of migration along 
which birds pass in especially great numbers. These are usually coast lines, river 
valleys, or continuous mountain ranges. Towards them converge innumerable less fre- 
quented paths, each of which in turn has still smaller tributaries of its own. Thus bird 
streams, like brooks, flow into common channels, and each particular region may be 
* They were probably obliged to seek the nearest shelter, for many that came to the lantern had their plumage so 
water-soaked that they could hardly fly. 
