Evening journal., 1896-12-03
THEY CARRY LIGHTS.
LUMINOUS BIRDS THAT HUNTERS
HAVE DISCOVERED.


a days sport found himself late in the /
evening ON the edge Of fiat or marsh |
which bordered the path. The moon had |
not risen, and the darkness was so in
tense that he was obliged to raove slowly !
and carefully. AS he walked along, gun
on shoulder, he thought he saw mum
Der Of lights, some moving, others sta
tionary. AS they were in the river bed,
he knew that they could not bo lanterns
and for some time he was puzzled; but
being Of an inquisitive mind he walked
down TO the water to investigate. As
the stream was q slow running, shallow
one, he had 10 difficulty in wading in,
and soon convinced himself that the
lights were not carried by men, and
were either ignes fatui or from some
cause unknown. To settle the apparent
mystery he crept as close as he could,
took careful aim and fired. AT the dis
charge the lights disappeared; but, keep
ing his eye on the spot where they had
been he walked quickly to it, and
found, to his amazement, night heron,
upon whose breast cleaned the mysiori-
Gus light The sportsman told me OF
this incident, and, while l had often
heard of the light on the heron's breast,
| never before could find any one who
had personally witnessed the phenome-
non; consequently propounded numer-
Gus questions. The observer saw the
light distinctly; first, at a distance of
at least 90 yards, or 100 feet. There
We're three lights upon each bird-one
upon each side between the hips and
tail and one upon the breast He saw
the lights Of at least four individuals,
and was so interested that he observed
them all carefully, and as to their in
tensity stated TO me that each light was
the equivalent Of two candles, so that
when he aimed he could see the gun
sight against it.
As to whether the bird had control Of
the light, he believed that it did, as he
saw the lights open and shut several
times as he crawled toward the bird,
and he stopped when the light disap-
peared and crept on when it came
again. The light did not endure long
]
almost immediately. In color tho light
was white and reminded him Of phos-
! phorescent wood.
Stories of luminous birds have been
related by sportsmen occasionally, but,
so far as l know, exact facts ana data
have never before been obtained on this
most interesting and somewhat sensa-
tional subject A friend IN Florida told
me that he had distinctly seen light
moving about in a flock Of cranes ut
night and became satisfied that the
light was upon tho breast of bird.
Another friend informed me that on en-
tering a heron rookery at night no had
distinctly observed lights moving about
among the birds.
That herons have a peculiar possible
light producing apparatus is well
known. These are called powder down
patches and can be found by turning Up
the long feathers on the horons breast,
where will be found patch of yellow,
greasy material that sometimes drops
off or fills the feathers in the form of a
yellow powder. This powder is pro
duced by the evident decomposition OF
the small feathers, producing just such
a substance as one might expect would
become phosphorescent, as there is little
doubt that it does
The cranes and herons are not the
only birds having these oily lamps, if SC
we may term them. A Madagascar bird
called kirumbo, has a large patch OF
each side Of the rump. The bitterni
have two pairs Of patches, the true her
ons three, while the curious boat bill
have eight, which, if at times all lu
minous, would give the bird a mos
conspicuous, not to say spectral, appear
ance at night.
Some years ago party Of explorer
entered large cave on the island O
Trinidad that had hitherto been consid
cred inaccessible. To their astonishmen
they found it filed with birds whicl
darted about in the dark in such mum
bers that they struck the explorers an,
rendered their passage not merely dis
agreeable, but dangerous. The bird
proved to be night hawks known as OF
birds, and in great demand for the OF
they contain, and it is barely possible
that these birds arc also light givers
The powder down patches of the OF
bird are upon each side of the rump.
As to the use Of such lights TO a bir'
there has been much conjecture, but i
is thouphr that it may be lure TO at
tract nshcs. Thus it is well known tina
, fishes and various marine animals ar
attracted by light, and a heron standing
3 motionless in the water, the light from
j. its breast, if equal to two candles
t would be plainly seen for considerabl
}. distance by various kinds Of fishes, VIII
i wonld undoubtedly approach within th
reach of the eagle eye and sharp bill o
the heron, and so fall victims to thei
. curiosity. If this is true solving Of tn
j mystery it is one Of the most remark
; able provisions of nature.
. There is hardly a group Of animal
= that does not include some light giver
i of great beauty; but it IS not general
4 known that some of the higher animal
also produce light at times. Renningei
the naturalist, whose studies and obsel
vofiopc of Doroo,,rav nrp well known