PURPLE MARTIN 497 



entirely commendatory of the martin's economic value. Junius Hen- 

 derson (1927) quotes some interesting data from Attwater in saying 

 that a quart of wing covers of cucumber beetles were found in one 

 martin nesting-box. Henderson says rather vividly, in comparison 

 with Roberts' opinion above, that since "Martins are very active, 

 requiring a large amount of food, and a considerable part of each 

 insect is indigestible, the number of insects they destroy in order to 

 get sufficient nourishment is 'not only beyond calculation, but almost 

 beyond comprehension.' The food is often compressed into a hard 

 mass, so it is wonderful how much a stomach may contain. The mass 

 of insects contained in a Swallow or Martin, would before compres- 

 sion, equal or exceed the bulk of the bird's body." 



Audubon (1840) says little of the martin's food, mentioning only 

 that "large beetles" figure in it, and that the birds "seldom seize the 

 honey-bee." Alexander Wilson (1831) devotes more space to this 

 phase and states that he "never met with more than one man who 

 disliked the martins, and would not permit them to settle near his 

 house. This was a penurious close-fisted German, who hated them 

 because, as he said, 'they eat his feas? I told him he must certainly 

 be mistaken, as I never knew an instance of martins eating peas; but 

 he replied with coolness, that he had many times seen them himself 

 'blaying near the hife ; and going schnip^ schnap'^ by which I under- 

 stood that it was his hees that had been the sufferers ; and the charge 

 could not be denied" ! 



Relative to the enormous numbers of insects destroyed by this 

 species, as well as the assiduous care of the young in providing them 

 with food, is the now classic example given by Widmann (1884). 

 He watched a colony of 16 pairs of these birds from 4 a. m. to 

 8 p. m., and during that time the parents came to the young 3,277 

 times, or an average of 205 times for each pair. The females made 

 1,823 visits, the males 1,454. 



John A. Farley (1901b) records that about the cranberry bogs 

 of Plymouth and Barnstable, Mass., the martin devours numbers of 

 the imagoes of the fireworm {Rhopohota vacciniana), which is a 

 highly beneficial act, since cranberry growers estimate that over a 

 term of years, they lose 50 percent of their crops by insects, chiefly 

 the fireworm. 



F. L. Farley (MS.) writes from Camrose, Alberta, that martins 

 are very fond of bits of egg-shells, so much so that "they are as 

 crazy for these shells as are cedar waxwings for ripe fruit." He con- 

 tinues: "Mrs. Farley saves most of her eggshells for one of our 

 friends who has about 30 pairs of martins nesting. He just breaks 

 them up and throws them down on the ground under his boxes and 

 before he reaches the house there are numbers of martins on the 



