Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-10-29
KILLED BY ELECTRICITY.
aow MILLIONS OF BUGS, BEE
TIES AND BIRDS PERISH.
Their Vain Futterings Around h
Arc Lights-Destructton of Birds
by the Goddess OF Liberty Beacon.

VYcTHEN a person meets death
w. from contact with an cleo
Y Y trio current the news is
heralded far and near, but
If the millions of tie lower forms 81
ANIMALS life which are daily sacrificed.
ne rarely hear a word. The employe- of
The electric light company who GOES
about supplying the lamps with fresh
carbon sticks each morning learns more
If the damage to animal life than is even
ireamed of by others. but he is not an
s~ntomologist generally, and only cares
TO trim the lamps and removes the accu-
mulation of dead insects which are found
in every globe in the summer months.
He carries a brush with which he quick
ly whisks out from a gill to a pint OF
:harred bodies and slnged wings. Now
md then a struggling insect is found IN
The mass, minus a wing, a pair of legs or
10, and occasionally a lace wing or moth
takes wing and escapes from the gen
:rally dead collection. As these fall to
- ground they are scattered to the
points of the compass, and in half an
hour not a vestige of a bug or a fly can
be found, so quickly are the light bodies
blown about, or ground into the load by
passing men and teams.
In a round made with the carbon sup
plyer in the month of July or August, it
Is safe to count on 500 insects to be
found in each globe visited, and some
times as high as 1900, but of course an
ccurate estimate cannot be made, as
many bodies, wings and legs are sadly
mixed in the mass. This collection IT,
cludes members of all the orders Of in
sect life, and about every well-known fly
aud beetle may be collected during a
mornings search, and many rare ones,
seldom found in other situations, are
taken.
On a favorable night, when it is very
dark, and there is no wind to drive the
giddy insects away from their death at
traction, a great many may be seen flying
close to the globe, where their ranks are
often invaded by shadow-like bats, who
dash dangerously near the globe i'll
chasing their prey. The bats are never
injured by the lights and avoid it most
adroitly in their evolutions.
No one who is an observer has failed
to note the change about our residences
in the summer evenings. Once the
rooms were filed with several varieties
of moths, bugs (so-called) and beetles,
and if windows were lowered to prevent
their entrance, numbers of them could
be heard humping against the panes and
humming about. All of this is now
done away with, for if the electric light
is burning near your home, the bugs and
moths visit it and leave you in peace.
The difference IN the prosecutions OF the
mosquitoes is a favorable theme for dis
c%ussion, and all are willing to give the
electric light the credit Of performing an
agreeable change.
However, if we are so free to ignore
the distinctions of the insects we are
constrained to resent the devastation
upon our birds, for there are fortunately
very few who are possessed of so little
sentiment as to abide i'll to our feathered
friends. 1t is impossible to secure sta.
tistics on the extent of the danger, but
enough is known to convince all that
elevated lights of any kind are a sad
menace to the birds during migration.
Some years ago the Government invest;
gated in relation to the. destruction by
light houses, and the damage was found
to be very heavy, and a list of 100 spe-
cies was received, many being valued
game birds and nearly all Others we'll.
known insect destroyers.
Thousands of birds are killed each sea
son by the light in the Goddess of Lib
.erty in the harbor, as they migrate to O
from the North, and all tower light
throughout the country are more or les
destructive, according to their location
But these greater dangers in a few case
are as nothing compared to the general
dispersed, combined lesser dangers G
the inuumerable city electric lights
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