BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



nature, realized that it was beneficial to have them near 

 their long-houses. They therefore hung hollowed gourds 

 to entice them. Southern negroes have done likewise. 

 They sometimes suspend a number of gourds from cross- 

 bars surmounting a pole, to form nesting-sites for a small 

 colony. 



Martins form an ideal community — busy, happy, har- 

 monious — unless English sparrows attempt to evict them 

 and appropriate their homes. Martin-houses and blue- 

 bird nesting-boxes seem to be the envy of these pugnacious 

 sparrows. Martins attack crows and hawks but cannot 

 endure the persecutions of the English sparrow. 



Martins are so useful that they should be protected 

 and encouraged whenever possible. A friend of mine 

 told me that she was never obliged to have her trees 

 sprayed while the martins remained. They feed on 

 wasps, bugs, and beetles, several varieties of which are 

 harmful, and they devour many flies and moths. 



Dr. Dutcher quotes from Audubon regarding the flight 

 of martins as follows: 



"The usual flight of this bird . . . although graceful 

 and easy, cannot be compared in swiftness with that of 

 the Barn Swallow. Yet the martin is fully able to dis- 

 tance any bird not of its own genus. They are very ex- 

 pert at bathing and drinking while on the wing, when 

 over a large lake or river, giving a sudden motion to the 

 hind part of the body, as it comes in contact with the 

 water, thus dipping themselves in it, and then rising and 

 shaking their body, like a water spaniel, to throw off the 

 water." ^ 



2 Educational Leaflet No. 13, of the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies. 



[176] 



