Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-05-18
Birds Are Prey to Many Ps.i,s


IL birds carried life insurance the
premium on their policies would be
high. Compared with the security or
the insecurity of man, every bird would
DC an extra hazardous risk. MANY
per'lS eeset the bird-cats. wild beasts
SNAKES, boys, gunners, parasites. dis
case famine, thirst, "aycGents BY
mood and field" windstorms, hail.
sieet' and snow storms, forest fires.
brush fires and bandit birds, such rs
Owls hawks, crows, Jays and other
feathered pillagers which eat the
eggs of other birds and kill Redglinrs
and full-grown birds.
millions of land hirds-thc sparrows
"atoiers, red starts, indigo buntinps
ana all the other migrants their
lives in storms at sea. Lighthouses
especially those that have fixed white
hehts' cause the death of great num-
oerS Of birds, and during the spring
ana IAN migratlons uncountable num-
/ GERS OF birds are killed by striking tall
structures on dark and foepy nights
Wells W. Cooke, deceased. assist
ant biologist of the Government BIZ
oloGieal Survey at Washington, wrote
In 1915, that during migration birds
are peculiarly liable to destruction by
striking high objects The Washing
ION Monument AT the National CAPITAL
mas witnessed the death of many little
migrants; on a single morning in the
spring of 1902 nearly $50 life!ess bod
ines were Strewn around its base. AS
long as the torch in the Bartholdi
Statue of Liberty in New York harbor
was Kept lighted the sacrifice of bird
life was enormous, even reaching a
maximum of 700 birds month"
Every spring lighthouses DESTROY
many thousands OF birds flying between
their winter homes in the South and
their summer homes in the North.
The death toll is greater in the fall.
Lighthouses stand every few miles
miles along the 5000 miles Of At
lantic coast, but those especially de-
structve Of birds are the lights on the
Fowey Rocks and Sombrero Key at the
south end Of Florida. This is because
Of the character Of their lights and
their position.
Countless birds pass each year to
and from Cuba, and these lights, at
the top Of high towers, are on much
travelled migration routes" The light
on Fowey Rocks is fixed white light,
which is curiously deadly to migrat-
ing birds. A flashing light frightens
birds away, and red light is avoid
ed by them, but a steady white light
looming up in the midst and darkness
attracts many OF the night travelling
birds. Generally they do not strike
against the windward side Of the glass
OF the light, but they fly around TO the
leeward and wear themselves out hut-
tering in the bewildering rays.
Migration is a season full of peril for
those winged travellers that cross large
bodies OF water. Some of the water
birds making long voyages can rest on
the waves if overtaken by storms, but
death is usually the fate Of the luckless
sparrow or warbler whose feathers be-
come water-soaked A bird catastro-
phe was once seen from the deck Of a
vessel 80 miles of the mouth Of the
Mississippi River. Large numbers Of
migrating birds, mostly warblers, had
accomplished nearly their whole flight
across the Gulf Of Mexico and were
nearing land when caught by "north-
err" with which most of them we're
unable to contend, and, falling into
the Gulf, they drowned by hundreds
New York Sun.