08 CIRCULAR 363, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
death. They may fly straight up the beam and dash themselves 
headlong against the glass, or they may keep fluttering around the 
source of the light until exhausted, and then drop to the rocks or 
waves below. The fixed, white, stationary light located 180 feet 
above sea level at Ponce de Leon Inlet (formerly Mosquito Inlet), 
Fla., has caused great destruction of bird life even though the lens 
is shielded by wire netting. On one occasion an observer gathered up 
a bushel-basketful of warblers, sparrows, and other small passerine 
birds that had struck during the night. The birds apparently beat 
themselves to death against the wire or fell exhausted to the concrete 
pavement below, frequently to be destroyed there by cats or skunks. 
Two other lighthouses at the southern end of Florida, Sombrero 
Key and Fowey Rocks, have been the cause of a great number of 
bird tragedies, while heavy mortality has been noted also at some of 
the lights on the Great Lakes and on the coast of Quebec. It is 
the fixed white lights that cause such disasters to birds, as the stations 
equipped with flashing or red lights do not present such strong at- 
tractions. That it is not a mere case of geographical location has 
been demonstrated, for it is observed that when fixed white lights have 
been changed to red or flashing lights, the migrating birds are no 
longer endangered. At some of the light stations in England and 
elsewhere, shelves and perches have been placed below the lanterns 
to afford places where birds can rest until they have overcome their 
bewilderment. 
For many years at the National Capital, the Washington Monu- 
ment, although unilluminated, caused the destruction of large numbers 
of small birds, due apparently to their mability to see this obstacle 
in their path, towering more than 555 feet into the air. One morning 
in the spring of 1902 the bodies of nearly 150 warblers, sparrows, and 
other birds were found about its base. ‘Then, as the illumination of 
the city was improved and the Monument became more visible at 
night, the loss became steadily less, until by 1920 only a few birds 
would be killed during an entire migration. On November 11, 1931, 
however, as part of the Armistice Day celebration, batteries of 
brilliant floodlights grouped on all four sides about the base of the 
Monument, were added to the two searchlights already trained on 
the apex, so that the lighted shaft probably corresponded in bril- 
liancy to a very low magnitude lighthouse lantern. Airplane pilots 
have ventured opinions that on a clear night it could be seen for 40 
miles. It is certain that there is an extensive area of illumination, 
and on clear, dark nights when the nocturnal travelers seem to fly at 
lower altitudes, many of them are attracted to the Monument as to 
a lighthouse beacon, and wind currents prevent a last-minute avoid- 
ance. During the fall migration of 1932 more than 500 warblers, 
vireos, thrushes, kinglets, sparrows, and others were killed. In 1933 
the mortality was less, but the Monument at times still remains a 
serious menace to birds during migration. 
When the torch on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was 
kept lighted, it caused an enormous destruction of bird life, tabula- 
tions showing as many as 700 birds in a single month. 
