Notes from Field and Study 



79 



It was not shy at 

 approach to within 

 winged Warbler, no 



, as 1 was ahlo to 

 fi-ct of it. A Blue 



:ompany w 



ith it. — XomiAN 15. I'll. I. 



Watcrburv. Conn. 



A Successful Martin Colony 



1 send another photograph (See Biiu.)- 

 LORE, March-April, 1909) of my Martin 

 colony, which was taken during the mating 

 period of 1969, and shows its growth from 

 one pair four years ago. The house 

 tigured was built, during leisure time, from 

 poplar and pine, and is divided into twelve 

 compartments, the entrances being spaced 

 as far apart as possible with separate 

 perches, to prevent quarreling. The first 

 Martin to arri\e last spring was a male, 



(luring the first week in April. When first 

 seen, he was sitting on the post that sup- 

 jjorted the house the year before, evidently 

 waiting for the house to be erected, as he 

 llcw into it the moment it was raised. 

 Others came later and, by the first week 

 in May, the twelve compartments were all 

 oicupied. Nesting commenced during the 

 second week in May, and by July 15 the 

 young had all flown. They numbered 

 nearly forty. To demonstrate the extreme 

 usefulness of these birds as insect-destroy- 

 ers, one needs only to inspect their abode 

 after the young have flown out, to see the 

 mass of shells and wings left from the 

 insects fed to the young. — J.\s. S. Becker, 

 Clvde, Ohio. 



A SUCCESSFUL MARTIN COLONY 

 Photographed by J. S. Becker, Clyde, Ohio 



Our Duty to Our Bird Tenants 



In your July-August, 1909, issue, 1 note 

 a letter from a Chicago bird-lover, '"Our 

 dutv to our bird tenants," that leads me 

 to e.xpress to you the facts that have pre- 

 sented themselves in our locality. We had 

 plenty of birds in our suburb, and a small 

 garden producing well. A few new neigh- 

 bors arrived, each with a pet cat. That was 

 two vears ago. W'e have now si.x cats that 

 visit our garden regularly, 

 among them a big black bird 

 cat. One cat has five black- 

 kittens now mature, and there 

 are other kittens growing up. 

 Last summer half the birds 

 were no more. This year we 

 hardly had a bird left and 

 quite a number had stopped 

 migrating in the spring. The 

 consequence is that I never 

 knew there could be so 

 jt many kinds of destructive 



^^W^ worms and bugs to the square 

 ^fc^^ foot. Our ground is the same, 

 •- 4m^^^^ the care the same, the climate 

 m^^^^^^g unchanged, and w-e have 

 jffl^tSm plenty of water. The flow- 

 ^'^^^^ ers and vegetables were poor 



and about a failure, as the 

 bugs and worms had to be 

 fought on everything. 



We license dogs as a public 



