Along the creek, martins can be seen at all hours of the day, 

 skimming over the surface, frequently (lipping their beaks into 

 the water. 



Their Enemies; Causes of Death, Etc, 



There are two classes of enemies which annoy the martins 

 much and likewise wear my patience. — The English Sparrow, 

 which fights them at their homes, and the men and boys who 

 delight to run about the outskirts of town and shoot every- 

 thing that wears feather. For the former I have an easy me- 

 thod of riddance, and that is by the use of powder and shot. 

 For the latter I have the State law making it a misdemeanor 

 to kill insectivorous and song birds ; but this way of abating 

 the nuisance is disagreeable as more or less personal strife and 

 hatred is aroused through prosecution. However I do not 

 hesitate to bring these parties to justice when I can gather 

 sufficient evidence to indict them. This I was able to do in 

 [898 when a young man shot one of my nesting birds near our 

 house. The prosecution of this young man had a wholesome 

 effect on the shooters, who have generally kept the danger of 

 killing martins well in mind. But costly experience is apt to 

 be neglected or disregarded after a lapse of time, and such 

 proved to be true in this case for during the past summer, 1902, 

 my birds were disturbed by shooters, and I was obliged to 

 bring two of these parties to justice. 



There is a class of college students, and other young men, 

 who go boating for pastime, who, T am told, often take a 

 small rifle along and shoot birds along the creek. I have had 

 evidence, a few times, that my martins were among the vic- 

 tims, and once when T sent a watcher along the creek, the 

 shooter was saved prosecution only by his poor marksmanship; 



The sparrows, if left unchecked, will reduce a good sized 

 colony to a few pairs by driving them away. Bv this T do 

 nor mean that they can worst the martins in a fight, for the 



