THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



Vol. XXXI. AUG.-SEPT., 1917. Nos. 5 and 6. 



THEPPRPLK MARTIN. 



H\ ( ; i i:s M .i >;\mara, Arnprior, Ontario. 



None of the higher forms of our wild life have adapted themselves 

 so readily to the changed conditions brought about by the advent of 

 the white man to America as some of the bird-. In general, the culture 

 our ancestors brought from Europe has been destructive of almost all 

 the indigenous animals; most of the mammals are approaching ex- 

 tinction, while of the birds, two or three species are already extermin- 

 ated, and a numb others are fast disappearing. But in marked 

 contrast to these, a few species of our avian fauna ha\e known not oni> 

 how to resist our deadly encroachments, but appear in some ways to 

 have actually benefited by the new conditions. One curious illusl 

 tion of tlu's is a horded by the nest of- the chipping sparrow, which 

 nowadays is invariably lined with horsehair. No doubt the bird 

 originally used some vegetable fibre for the purpose^ but when horse- 

 hair became available it took exclusively to that superior building 

 material. 



It is, though, in the choice of a nesting site that the adaptiveness 

 of certain bird- is best seen. Besides the several species, such as the 

 robin, the phoebe and the wren, which, while still nesting freely as of 

 old in the and woods, often delight us by the confidence with 



which they build around our houses, there arc others that have become 

 almost wholly dependent on man for their domicile. One of these 

 is the chimney swift. In these latter days the swift nearly always </lues 

 its curious bracket of dry twigs inside a disused chimney. Very 

 seldom is the bird seen at any distance from a house, and when it is 

 found ranging over the forest, its nest is almost certain to be dis< overed 

 on the inner wall of a deserted shanty or shed. 



Even more dependent on man is the purple martin. Its original 

 practice is disclosed by the fact that, in the western part of its range, 

 where human habitations are rare, it still sometimes nests in cavities 

 in trees. But in the east it looks exclusively to man for accommoda- 

 tion. I have seen it occasionally rearing its brood on some shelf-like 



