| Show TJ E Y FLY BY NIGHT the nocturnal flight 0 f migratory birds proved I 1 cle Taper jle aders of F rank lesliea Le ardt ed newspaper will remember the given in a recent bissu e of the destruction of birds by the electric elect fic lights t t in connection ibis subject there s an interesting scientific fit t of recent discovery biby viby the birds are found there at ig ht naturally occurs to every reader the poets tell of the feath erad warblers warb lers retiring at nightfall to bush and brake and excepting the owl or bat they nie not su P posed to be about the sky at night like moths ar 0 und a candle does the vivid light fas I 1 pinate and draw thern from the bushes where they are resting this might perhaps be true of a lighthouse where a fertile country bor dered theses but the statue of liberty is more than a mile from the land beddoes Bed loes island is not su itce foi a e ig r a pla fier diug birds in lam e uen b rim a n d the roofs and tenements of new york and new jersey which surround the statue have never been known as their resorts the answer to this interesting eni im a was given recently by pro for A ilen the ornithologist of the american museum of natural his tor y in new york quite a num ar of the birds which had dashed on the lights of the statue and perished were given mr all en for the museum birds be boid it is now accepted fly by night and frequently at a height of several miles above the earths eur face this lad been conjectured for sometime but it is only within two or three eara chat the fact was established rhe circumstance was it doted a short front N ly bork at brincton Princ ton y and y accident professor young the astronomer was making a series of observations late in the night with a friend who is an orni tholo gist obett the larter saw objects passing between the telescope and the disk of the moon lie recognized them as birds and became so interested that the astronomical observations were forthe time suspended although the birds itea at 16 tance of move ritt miles he was able to distinguish several varieties during the past month frank M chapman of the american musel lulf has conducted for 31 rAllen a series of observations from tenafly Tena fly N J to verify this fact the result has been successful and bits contributed further information on the subject A six and one half inch telescope directed over the valley of the ludson following the moon as she rose from the horizon Jil rough the small area covered by the in strument ment birds were counted between 8 in the evening and day light the dext morning the va were easily alost of them were ep arrowo but there were numbers of carolina rails and one duck at first they were seen rising at an angle from the ground but as the moon rose higher they could be observed flying in a line arallen aral lel to the earth th height ich enabled them to avoid d is believed that they fly at a great height partly fr this r as well as to kl beep in view the landmarks which it is known birda are guided in their migration they follow the course of valleys those running north and south and the range of the hills would be quite distinct by star lighta bv a strata of local clouds during severe and wide spread storms it is not thought t at they continue their course just before daybreak the birds appear to descend and feed during he lay they rest tal king up their in the evening until their destination is reached fly edg st the height they do along the hudson valley it can be beadil y seen bow the intense light thrown upward from Li bertys statue would daze and blaid the birds as they came within its rays whose bright ness makes all dark beyond thein |
