Martin SONG-BIRDS. 



Song : Very soft and musical, beginning "peuo-peuo-peuo.** 



Season : Late April to early September. 



Breeds : Through range, rearing two broods a season. 



Nest : A little heap of leaves ; in the East in boxes, but in the West 



in hollow trees. 

 Eggs : 4-6, glossy white. 

 Iia7ige : Temperate North America, south to Mexico. 



Without being precisely a common bird, the Purple 

 Martin is with us every summer, and its iridescent coat is 

 a familiar sight. Its size and colour easily separate it from 

 the rest of the family, and the sweet song completes the 

 identification. 



A little after dawn, in early May, you may see pairs of 

 these Martins hovering in mid-air, half caressing, half quar- 

 relling, while from time to time you will hear the liquid 

 " peuo-peuo-peuo " merging into a more throaty ripple, like 

 laughter. 



The Martin is a favourite, and always seems to have been 

 regarded as such. Houses are provided for his shelter, 

 children are cautioned not to molest him, and the farmer, 

 usually so callous toward bird attractions, has no word for 

 him but of praise; as he consumes a vast quantity of 

 evil insects, and these, too, of a larger size and different 

 class from those captured by other Swallows, and he does 

 not claim a single bud or berry to discount his utility. 



Even among the wild men he was always a protected 

 guest. Wilson relates that the Choctaw and Chickasaw 

 Indians used to strip the leaves from small trees near 

 their encampments, and hang upon the prongs, hollowed- 

 out gourds that the Martins might nest in them, and the 

 Mississippi negroes also hung similar contrivances on long 

 canes to coax the Martin to stay. 



The Purple Martin is as courageous as the Kingbird in 

 attacking Crows and Hawks, but for all this he seems 

 unable to cope with the English Sparrow, who is steadily 

 and persistently appropriating his houses. The Sparrow 

 has the advantage of being more prolific, as well as more 

 gross and brutal in its methods, and represents in the bird 



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