OUR GREATEST TRAVELERS 



351 



of Fowey Rocks light-house, in southern 

 Florida. 



Nor was this an unusual tragedy. 

 Every spring the lights along the coast 

 lure to destruction myriads of birds who 

 are en route from their winter homes in 

 the South to their summer nesting places 

 in the North. Every fall a still greater 

 death-toll is exacted when the return 

 journey is made. 



Light-houses are scattered every few 

 miles along the more than 3,000 miles 

 of our coast-line, but two light-houses — 

 Fowey Rocks and Sombrero Key — are 

 responsible for far more bird tragedies 

 than any others. The reason is twofold : 

 their geographic position and the char- 

 acter of their lights. Both are situated 

 at the southern end of Florida, where 

 countless thousands of birds pass each 

 year to and from Cuba. Both lights are 

 of the first magnitude, on towers 100-140 

 feet high, and Fowey Rocks has a fixed 

 white light, the deadliest of all. 



A red light or a rapidly flashing one 

 repels the birds, but a steady white light 

 piercing the storm and fog proves irre- 

 sistible. From whatever direction they 

 approach they veer to windward, and 

 then, flying against the wind, seek the 

 object of their infatuation. The larger 

 part do not strike with sufficient force to 

 injure themselves, but, like great moths, 

 they flutter in and out of the light's rays, 

 and finally settle on the platform or 

 framework to await the abatement of 

 the storm or the coming of sufficient day- 

 light to enable them once more to orient 

 themselves. 



NEIGHBORS IN WINTER AND REMOTE 

 STRANGERS IN SUMMER 



The next two maps (pages 348 and 349) 

 show the extremes of direct and circui- 

 tous routes of migration. All black-poll 

 warblers winter in South America. Those 

 that are to nest in Alaska strike straight 

 across the Caribbean Sea to Florida 

 and go northwestward to the Mississippi 

 River. Then the direction changes and 

 a course is laid almost due north to 

 northern Minnesota, in order to avoid 

 the treeless plains of North Dakota. But 



when the forests of the Saskatchewan 

 are reached, the northwestern course is 

 resumed and, with a slight verging to- 

 ward the west, is held until the nesting 

 site in the Alaska spruces is attained. 



The cliff swallows are winter neigh- 

 bors in South America of the black-poll 

 warblers. But when in early spring na- 

 ture prompts the swallows who are to 

 nest in Nova Scotia to seek the far-off 

 land where they were hatched, they begin 

 their journey to that region — which is 

 situated exactly north of their winter 

 abode — by a westward flight of several 

 hundred miles to Panama. Thence they 

 move leisurely along the western shore 

 of the Caribbean Sea to Mexico and, 

 still avoiding any long trip over water, 

 go completely around the western end of 

 the Gulf. Hence as they cross Louisiana 

 they are moving in the opposite direction 

 from that in which they started. A 

 northeasterly course from Louisiana to 

 Maine, and an easterly one to Nova 

 Scotia, completes their spring migration. 

 This circuitous route has added more 

 than 2,000 miles to the distance traveled. 



THE WARBEER TRAVELS AT NIGHT, THE 

 SWAEEOW BY DAY 



Why should the swallow elect so much 

 more roundabout a route than that taken 

 by the warbler ? The explanation is sim- 

 ple. The warbler is a night migrant. 

 Launching into the air soon after night- 

 fall, it wings its way through the dark- 

 ness toward some favorite lunch station, 

 usually several hundred miles distant, 

 where it rests and feeds for several days 

 before undertaking the next stage of its 

 journey. Its migration consists of a 

 series of long flights from one feeding 

 place to the next, and naturally it takes 

 the most direct course between stations, 

 not deviating for any body of water that 

 can be compassed at a single flight. 



On the other hand, the swallow is a 

 day migrant. Little and often is its rule. 

 It begins its spring migration several 

 weeks earlier than the warbler and 

 catches each day's rations of flying in- 

 sects during a few hours of slow evolu- 

 tions, which at the same time accomplish 



