Taverner — Ox A Pl-rple Martin Roost. 89 



this wing spread that governs their relative positions on a Hne 

 or perch hke a wire where they have to sit side by side in the 

 same plane. 



The air as well as the wires was filled with their wheeling 

 forms, and the soft chattering of their numbers formed a con- 

 tinuous soft monotone very pleasing and cjuieting to the senses 

 and conducive to musing and meditation. Indiviluals were 

 continually forsaking their perches and hurling themselves into 

 the giddy evolutions of their comrades on the wing and their 

 places w^ere shortl\ taken by others that had been but waiting 

 for a vacancy. Starting from the highest point of the wire 

 one of the rest-seekers would gradually flutter down its length 

 emitting half-angry warnings, answered in a like manner from 

 the seated ones, until a space was found that had been deserted 

 by its occupant when the new comer would settle down just 

 about a foot from the neighbor on either hand ; perhaps I should 

 say wing. 



Thus it continued each evening. As evening advanced the 

 birds became more restless and uneasy and the occupants of the 

 wires kept continually changing until just about sundown, 

 when up they all flew, circled a few times overhead and then 

 away to the westward — straight up the Alidway and so vanished 

 in the distance. They were followed a couple of evenings on 

 a bicycle but that they soon left far behind and we were as ig- 

 norant as ever of their destination. At last, on August 21st, 

 Mr. J. L. De Mne ran them down. Stationed at the far end of 

 the Midway, he watched for their coming. True to their usual 

 hour they came straight up the broad ]\Iidway. Flying swiftly 

 they passed directly over the observer's head and dashed into 

 the trees in the corner of Washington Park just across Cottage 

 Grove Ave., joining others of their kind already there ; and the 

 problem was solved. The next evening found the three of us. 

 Mr. De Vine, Professor Ned. Dearburn and the writer tliere 

 waiting. The spot chosen for the night roost was peculiar and 

 worth a passing mention. In all Chicago I know of no spot 

 that would seem more unlikely to be used for such a purpose. 

 Cottage Grove Ave, runs north and south, bounding Washing- 

 ton Park on the east. It is bi-sected by GOth street, and in the 



