The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-12-23
DEATH OF MIGRATING BIRDS.
The Destruction of Winged Game l"
Connecticut's Burning Wooas'

Il
Persons who do not make study OF
the matter have but little conception OF
the magnitude of the fight of wild birds
now passing from north to south across
lower New England and out over the
sea, in obedience to the mysterious IN
stinct of migration. At no time, save
during protracted period OF easterly
gales, does the great size OF the hignt
become known. Then the progress OF
the feathered columns Is checked. ana
thew are driven in to the shores OF the
mainland, there to drop into woodland
or water and bide their time until
favorable turn of the wind shall set
hem on their way again. 1t is at this
inne that the huntsmen shoot big bags
| # golden plover, yellow legs, and 9th
rs of the wading and swimming birds,
ID that the collector of pathological
| ,ccinens is in his element.
TIE birds that pass over the southern
Ire of Connecticut in the night have
-en meeting with unusual slaughter
mis- fall. They have been losing their
ives by hundreds, mainly owing to the
flames and heat from forest fires and
the glare of lighthouses and of lamps
and lanterns in and about dwellings.
Some of the old duck hunters at Stony
Creek say they never knew of so many
birds being killed in this way before.
Not fire of any moment occurs in the
open country at night nowadays but
wild birds are drawn toward it and
finally Swallowed up by it. Casper
Housman, of North Branford, had part
of his woodland burned over the other
night. While the firefighters were at
work they saw a flock of belated plover
rise from a marsh near at hand and
wheel toward the fire. as If intending to
pass over it. But their calculation was
at fault or else the charm possessed by
the flames was too strong, for when
right over a blaze which was fed by
winrows of dry leaves, they were seen
to plunge headlong to destruction in the
NAV of the fire. There was haystack
fire ON the salt meadows below North
Haven on the Quinnipiac river few
nights later to which small song birds
and quail were attracted. Many were
swallowed up by hundreds in the flames,
Two or three scorched quail were found
lifeless by the side of the charred stack
on the following day.
A janitor at Yale university build
ing few nights ago picked up two
woodcock, which had flown against the
building during the previous night, and
had been killed. 1t is supposed that the
birds were drawn toward the structure
by the brightness of the lights inside.
John Henderson, of Springfield. has
been ON q ducking tour of the Thmble
islands off Stony creek for two weeks.
On Saturday night, while he lay in his
bunk in one of the little island houses,
he heard the notes and calls of a flight
of south-bound heron, duck and plover
overhead. He went out, but could see
nothing, and he. bent over to set his boat
lantern out of view, so that its light
would not obscure his sight. AS he
arose sound like the swish of bullet
made him draw back, and the next in
slant he felt the wind from moving
wings. Then pair of wild pigeons
shot with a crash into the lantern,
smashing it and killing themselves. A
night or two before Leon St. Germain. a
local fisherman, was ..wigwagging' for
cells, with spear, and large. square
reflector lantern, in Joshua's cove. lie
was pushing around a point when he
heard the familiar whistling sound of
the wings of black duck. A duck few
directly through the lantern the next
moment, in at one side and out at the
other. He found the duck the next day
diving about the cove. 1t was so badly
cut about the wings that it could not
fly.
Stories of the character of those in
the preceding paragraphs, together
with the reports of continual casualties
to birds, after dark at the lighthouse
along this coast, might be multiplied.
Hundreds of flight birds are meeting
death by flying against the lanterns of
the lighthouses. Many birds are killed
in this way at Faulkner's Island light,
perhaps more than anywhere else along
the Atlantic. Why this is so cannot be
stated positively, but it is supposed to
be because this light greets the migra-
tory birds as they come from the Con-
necticut valley in the fall or enter it in
the spring. The light seems to be tar
get for the birds during certain condi-
tons Of the atmosphere. 1t has been
found that the birds are most attracted
to the light when dull, smoky haze per-
vades the night, rendering inarimate
objects more or less indistinct. In clear
weather or in dense fog at Faulkner's
the night flyers pay but little attention
to the light.
This information is the result of long
observation by Capt. Oliver N. Brooks,
of Guilford, for 81 years keeper of the
light. Capt. Brooks is an experienced
ornithologist, to whom members of the
Yale faculty have been indebted for
much enlightenment regarding bird life
in this part of the country. The slaugh-
ter of birds at the light, Capt. Brooks
said, was largely confined to the smaller
specimens. The percentage of game
birds killed there is smaller than at
isolated lighthouses standing at prom
inent points along the coast.-N. Y.