r,
but not hard enough to injure either bird.

Even the smallest and most wonderful of all flyers, the hummingbird, may
come to grief in accidental ways. I have seen one entangled in a burdock
burr, its tiny feathers fast locked into the countless hooks, and again I
have found the body of one of these little birds with its bill fastened in
a spiral tendril of a grapevine, trapped in some unknown way.

Young phoebes sometimes become entangled in the horsehairs which are used
in the lining of their nest. When they are old enough to fly and attempt
to leave, they are held prisoners or left dangling from the nest. When
mink traps are set in the snow in winter, owls frequently fall victims,
mice being scarce and the bait tempting.

Lighthouses are perhaps the cause of more accidents to birds than are any
of the other obstacles which they encounter on their nocturnal migrations
north and south. Many hundreds of birds are sometimes found dead at the
base of these structures. The sudden bright glare is so confusing and
blinding, as they shoot from the intense darkness into its circle of
radiance, that they are completely bewildered and dash headlong against
the thick panes of glass. Telegraph wires are another menace to low-flying
birds, especially those which, like quail and woodcock, enjoy a whirlwind
flight, and attain great speed within a few yards. Such birds have been
found almost cut in two by the force with which they struck the wire.

The elements frequently catch birds unaware and overpower them. A sudden
wind or storm will drive coast-flying birds hundreds of miles out to sea,
and oceanic birds may be blown as far inland. Hurricanes in the West
Indies are said to cause the death of innumerable birds, as well as of
other creatures. From such a cause small islands are known to have become
completely depopulated of their feathered inhabitants. Violent hailstorms,
coming in warm weather without warning, are quite common agents in the
destruction of birds, and in a city thousands of English sparrows have
been stricken during such a storm. After a violent storm of wet snow in
the middle West, myriads of Lapland longspurs were once found dead in the
streets and suburbs of several villages. On the surface of two small
lakes, a conservative estimate of the dead birds was a million and a
half!

The routes which birds follow in migrating north and south sometimes
extend over considerable stretches of water, as across the Ca