104 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Two of Our Common Birds. 



Purple Martin: Some time in March 

 the Purple Marlins reach here from 

 their southern winter home. Their 

 notes are very pleasant and never fail 

 1o attract the attention of a lover of the 

 feathered tribe. 



Behold how graceful they wend their 

 way, now chasing an insect in its flight. 

 The flight of the Martin is very swift, 

 and when chasing an insect through the 

 air is somewhat irregular, but when at 

 leisure it is exceedingly graceful. 



The ne?t of this bird is always placed 

 in a cavity of some kind. In Bertie 

 county the farmers make boxes with 

 from four to eight rooms each. The 

 box is placed on the end of a pole about 

 fifteen or twenty feet long. Then the 

 pole is raised to a perpendicular posi- 

 tion, and secured in place by means of 

 a hole dug in which for the end to rest. 



In Lenoir county the Martins build 

 in gourds strung on the limbs of a pole 

 that has been prepared to receive them. 

 Each gaurd has a small hole cut in the 

 side, and they seem to make good places 

 for nfsts. 



Nest building begins in the latter part 

 of April. Early in May fresh eggs may 

 be taken. 



The number of eggs are four, five, six 

 and sometimes seven. The last number 

 have I seen in only one instance. 



The Purple Martins are very noisy, 

 but their notes are so pleasant that they 

 are liked by almost all people. To my 

 ears their notes are much pleasanter 

 than the song of the Mockingbird, and 

 on many a hot day in summer have I 

 sat down in the shade of some tree and 

 spent hours at the time watching the 

 movements and listening lo the notes 

 of this bird 



After the breeding season is over the 

 Martins stay with us but a short time, 

 leaving about the last of July. Many 

 may be seen after this date, but the 

 greater number have already left. 



Chimney Swift: The Chimney Swift 

 is tolerably common in eastern North 

 Carolina, where it builds its nest in 

 such places as are always chosen by 

 this bird. 



I have found and ^xamined several 

 nests of the Chimney Swift, containing 

 four and five eggs, the latter beiog de- 

 posited in most of the first nests of the 

 season, and the former in nests that, 

 may have been destroyed. Four may 

 complete the set of the first nest, but I 

 have never found it so. 



The quick, irregular flight of this 

 bird, together with its quickly uttered 

 notes, never fails to draw the attention. 



The Chimney Swift is generally 

 known by the name of swallow, which 

 is applied to them by almost every- 

 body. 



During the last of August and most 

 of September maoyjof these birds may 

 be seen as they leisurely drift south- 

 ward. Of an evening they may be seen 

 darting here and there after insects. 

 Owing to the migration from the north 

 is doubtless why they are more numer- 

 ous during the migrating season than 



in summer. 



R. P. Smith WICK, 



Merry Hill, N. C. 



A Queer Nesting Site. 

 May 6, 1893, while passing through a 

 meadow I noticed an old tin can on the 

 ground containing a Bluebird's nest 

 with four fresh eggs. The parent was 

 identified. The eggs seemed somewhat 

 lighter in color than u°ual. 



H. T. Greene. Montclair, N. J. 



Last January Mr. H. R. Taylor, Ala- 

 meda, Cal. transferred a perfect specimen 

 of the egg of the California Vulture to 

 the collection of Miss Jean Bell, Ridley 

 Park, Pa. This egg was collected for 

 Mr. Taylor in San Luis, Obispo Co., 

 Cal.. April 26, 1898. The price paid 

 was $90.00 so we are informed by a dis- 

 interested person. This egg and its 

 taking was the subject of a paper read 

 before Cooper Ornithological Club in 

 the winter of '98-99, 



