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Volume XI November-December 1909 Number 6 
SOME BIRD ACCIDENTS 
By WILLIAM L. FINLEY 
WITH THREE PHOTOS BY HERMAN T. BOHI.MAN 
T RAGEDIES are common in bird and animal life, but I rarely come upon 
them. The end is generally tragic and not from natural causes. The weak 
falls a prey to the strong; the sick bird is captured by a cat or some other 
animal. Several times I have found birds that have suffered a tragic end, but 
seldom have I witnest the tragedy itself. 
One day I was watching a pair of Yellow Warblers in the orchard. They 
were flitting about a vine-covered fence. I think they were building a nest, or just 
about to build one in the vicinity. The first thing I noticed, the male paused on 
the fence, fluttering his wings. His mate flew down beside him. He tried to fly 
to the limb of a nearby tree, but fell short and wavered to the ground. His wife 
was right beside him, chirping all the time. I went nearer for a closer view. He 
lay flat on his back, writhing in pain. I could see he was dying. His wife was on 
the fence scarcely a yard from my hand, fidgeting and calling for him. He died in 
my hand almost instantly, stricken by I know not what. 
I had a closely similar experience one rainy afternoon when I was walking 
along the street in Berkeley, California. A male English Sparrow fluttered down 
almost at my feet. He floundered about in the water on the sidewalk and finally 
over into the gutter, where he died almost instantly. Three or four other sparrows 
were flying around, chirping in excitement, as they watcht their fallen comrade. 
Telephone and telegraph wires are the cause of many deaths among birds. A 
good example of this has been given by Mr. \V. Otto Emerson in The Condor, 
vol. vi, no. 2, page 37 (March-April, 1904). He tells of many Northern Phalaropes 
and Western Sandpipers that are killed, especially during the migrating season, by 
flying against the wires across the marsh. 
During the spring of 1904 while making the trip out thru this region with Mr. 
Emerson and Mr. Bohlman, I saw a number of phalaropes along the road under 
