10 



THE CONDOR 



Vol. XX 



against the lantern until they fall from exhaustion. A number of correspond- 

 ents speak of finding birds with necks broken and breast bones crushed, show- 

 ing that they had struck some solid object with great violence. It is quite evi- 

 dent that the placing of perches on most of the lighthouses of this coast would 

 be time and money wasted. Not many birds are killed at most of them and the 

 birds killed are not perching birds for the most part. 



IV. The greatest danger to the birds is evidently on dark overcast nights. 

 The seasons of greatest danger are evidently during the spring migration and 

 the autumnal migration, with less danger during the winter season and least of 



Pig. 3. Lighthouse at Hueneme, Ventura County, California. The low-built 

 type of lighthouse which causes but slight destruction of birds, this par- 

 ticular station reporting only four birds found dead in three years. 



Courtesy of the Lighthouse Service, U. S. 

 Dept. Commerce. 



all in summer. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the time of 

 greatest mortality but on the whole the statement above seems to be in accord 

 with the majority of the correspondents. 



V. In the opinion of the lighthouse keepers the destruction of birds at the 

 lighthouse stations is not increasing. Seventy-five percent of those answering 

 the question think the number of birds killed is growing less ; the others think 

 there is no noticeable change. 



San Francisco, California, November 2, 1917. 



