BIRDS AND LIGHTHOUSES 



A SINGULAR incident of bird life, of which most 

 people have read, but few perhaps have personally- 

 witnessed, is the attraction which lighthouses 

 present to many species of migratory birds when 

 passing to and fro upon their periodical migrations. 

 Those whose business and occupation it is to dwell 

 in the lighthouses and tend the lamps to save our 

 vessels from destruction, tell us that at certain 

 seasons of the year vast flocks of birds are seen 

 making for the land, and numbers of them, impelled 

 by some strange infatuation, dash wildly against 

 the lantern, and often perish from the concussion. 



Out in the North Sea, Heligoland lies right in 

 the track of all the migratory birds which pass to and 

 from the east and north-east of Europe. This, to 

 ornithologists, is a famous post of observation ; 

 and through the agency of an excellent naturalist 

 resident there, Herr Gatke, some curious statistics 

 on miofration have been collected. Mr H. Seebohm, 

 who made a short stay on this island, has graphically 

 described what he witnessed on visiting the light- 

 house there one night in October, just as the 

 autumnal migration had commenced. He says : — 



" At half-past twelve I was awoke with the news 

 that the migration had already begun. Hastily 



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