36 MORTALITY AMONG WARBLERS 



motacilla) and one Hooded Warbler ( Wilsonia mitrata) . Many Yel- 

 low-rumps were in company with the rest, and, though much tamer 

 than usual, none were found dead or were captured. On the 19th I 

 made a trip for the purpose of observation, and found many Black 

 and White Warblers and Parulas lying dead on the ground at the 

 foot of live-oak trees. From many of the ranches in the country 

 round here, came reports of similar occurrences and many dead 

 birds of the species mentioned have been sent to me." 



Without giving further instances of similar character, men- 

 tion may be made of large numbers of migrating Warblers which 

 annually meet their death by striking light-houses or light-towers. 

 Serious accidents of this nature occur only during cloudy or foggy 

 nights when the birds, losing their bearings, descend from the 

 height at which they have been migrating. Apparently fascinated 

 by the far reaching rays of light, they fly toward their source and, 

 striking some unilluminated part of the tower, are often killed. 



Of five hundred and ninety-five birds which were killed by 

 striking the Fire Island Light, Long Island, on the night of September 

 23, 1887, no less than three hundred and fifty-six were Blackpoll 

 Warblers, and more than half the twenty five species represented were 

 Warblers. (Dutcher, Auk, V, 1888, 182). 



Nevertheless, in spite of this unusual mortality, the Warblers, 

 as a family, remain our most abundant birds, an exhaustless food 

 supply and widespread favorable nesting areas apparently enabling 

 them to hold their own in the face of conditions to which many 

 forms of bird life would succumb. 



