1917) The Ottawa Naturalist. 53 



of the morsel by swallowing it; a higher example of maternal devotion 

 would be hard to find. 



One purple martin looks very much like another, and it is, of 

 course, on their essential resemblances that the species is founded. 

 Rut the close study of any species of animal always discloses more or 

 less marked differences between individuals, not only in structure 

 and appearance, but in temperament also. It is said that individuality 

 can be noticed in creature- as low in the scale of life as the annelids, 

 and that earthworms display marked idiosyncrasies of conduct. If 

 this be true, we may confidently look for decided variations in the 

 mental traits of purple martins, and an incident I observed this year 

 seems to confirm the expectation. 



The guiding principle of the purple martin ethic is a virulent 

 family egoism. Charity both begins and ends at home, and all there 

 ever is to spare for a neighbour is a peck or a curse. Rut while 

 watching the young birds being fed, I remarked an astonishing ex- 

 ception to this rule. < >n three different occasions, the father of apart- 

 ment Xo. 5 was seen, after he had rammed a few insects into the 

 gaping mouths of his own offspring, to bestow the rest of his beakful 

 on the young of apartment No. 4 next door, who, in tiie general habil 

 of all young martins, always reached out long eager necks and 

 clamored for food when they saw their youthful neighbours being fed. 

 This behaviour of father No. 5 was unique. Nol the smallest spark 

 of generosity was ever seen to warm the frigid selfishness of any of the 

 others; and the question is: did this action presage the dawn of a 

 martin altruism, or was father Xo. 5 merely too stupid to distinguish' 

 his neighbour's young from his own? Optimists will adopt ; ; 

 alternative, pessimists the last. 



Shortly after the middle of Jul\', some of the young begin to creep 

 out onto the verandah; and now it becomes plain that my bird-house, 

 although built on an approved plan, does not sufficiently imitate the 

 deep cavities in trees that are the birds' natural habitations. For the 

 adventurous nestlings, crawling out too soon from the shallow cabins 

 of the house, accidentally tumble off the verandahs, or launch out before 

 they can fly properly and come piteously to the ground, where they fall 

 an easy prey to prowling cats. We always keep a lookout for these 

 rash youngsters, and either put them back into their nest, or if they 

 are nearly fledged, place them on the branch of a tree, where the old 

 birds feed them for a day or two until they can fly. Rut in spite of all 

 our care, the cats get four or five of them ever}- year. 



As soon as the fledglings can take the wing, the whole family 

 leaves the house for good, and during the rest of the season spends the 

 nights in the tree tops. Ry the first of August all are flown, and the 

 house is empty. For about three weeks after this they ma}- still be 

 seen hawking in flocks of four or five probably family groups and 



