MANNER OF MIGRATION. 57 Observations of tins kind should be made in Septem- ber, ^vhen the fall migration is at its height. On the night of September 3, 1887, at Tenafly, New Jersey, a friend and myself, using a six-and-a-half -inch equatorial glass, saw no less than two hundred and sixty-two birds cross the narrow angle subtended by the limbs of the moon between the hours of eight and eleven. Observa- tions made several years later, in September, from the observatory of Columbia University, yielded closely simi- lar results. This nocturnal journey of birds may also be studied from lighthouses. On September 26, 1891, I visited the Bartholdi Statue of the Goddess of Liberty, in New York Bay, for this purpose. The weather was most favorable. The first bird was observed at eight o'clock, and for the succeeding two hours others were constantly heard, though comparatively few were seen. At ten o'clock it began to rain ; and almost simultaneously there was a marked increase in the number of birds about the light, and within a few minutes there were hundreds where before there was one, while the air was filled with the calls of the passing host. From the balcony Avhich encircles the torch the scene was impressive beyond description. We seemed to have torn aside the veil which shrouds the mysteries of the night, and with the searching light exposed the secrets of Nature. By far the larger number of birds hurried onward ; others hovered before us, like Hummingl)irds before a flower, then flew SAviftly by into the darkness ; and some, apparently blinded by the brilliant rays, struck the statue slightly, or with sufiicient force to cause them to fall dead or dying. At daybreak a few stragglers were still ^ving- ing their way southward, but before the sun rose the flight was over. 10
