126 Bird -Lore 



About that time, I saw in Bird-Lore a cut, with accurate measurements 

 and directions for making a ten-room Martin-house. I took the cut to a local 

 carpenter, asking him to make me two of the houses, following the same general 

 plan as illustrated in the cut, which he did. I do not think the houses would be 

 winners in a beauty contest, but, as Mr. Baynes said, the Martins are not 

 critical. 



I secured a 20-foot pole from the local telephone company, and, before 

 painting it, I covered a part of the lower half of the pole with a sheet of tin, 

 thus making it cat-proof. I then fastened the house on the pole with heavy 

 angle irons, getting the first one up late in the afternoon of May i. 



The next morning I heard an unusual bird-note and looked out to locate it: 

 sure enough, there were six or eight of the Martins circling over and around the 

 new house. They soon alighted on it and looked into the rooms. More came, 

 until it seemed to me that all of the Martins in the city must be there on a tour 

 of inspection, but they did not remain long. 



In a day or two I put up the second house, and that, also, was, in its turn, 

 promptly looked over. There would be a day or so at a time when I did not see 

 any birds around, but nearly every day a few would come and fly back and 

 forth from one house to the other, then go away. 



By the middle of the month, a few pairs came to stay; probably they were 

 the young, immature birds from the old colony. I could not see much differ- 

 ence in the birds, as all looked alike. The young male and adult female look 

 very much the same — backs a dusty black and breasts gray. The full-plumaged 

 male does not have the complete dress of shining purple-black until his 

 second postnuptial molt. 



My success encouraged others to erect houses for them, and we now have 

 in the city nine or ten houses of from eight to twenty rooms, all of which are 

 occupied partly or in full. For the last two years I have had 'capacity' houses. 

 During the middle of a hot day they will seem to be away for several hours, 

 but morning and evening they can be seen and heard most of the time. 



It is said that a Martin will eat a thousand mosquitoes in a day. While I can- 

 not say that I miss any yet, I know that the Martins get a large part of their 

 food at or near the house, and all of their food is obtained from the air as they fly 

 about. The only time you see Martins on the ground is when they are gather- 

 ing materials for their nests. Straw, dry leaves, shavings, mud, and a few green 

 leaves for lining the nest seem to be the materials most used, and from the 

 inspection of the nests when the houses are taken down for the winter, one 

 could not give them a first-class recommendation either as housekeepers or 

 nest-builders. 



They nest only once during the season, and that rather late, as it must be 

 warm enough for plenty of insects to be in the air for food for the young birds. 



Plan to start a colony this year ; get your house ready and put it up the last 

 of April or the first of May. Any boy can make one. Mount it away from trees 



