l 9 



martins are good fighters and can rout the sparrows in short 

 order; but in the absence of the martins, the sparrows carry 

 out the eggs, and young and in a half hour's time will almost 

 fill a room with straw and rubbish which they pack so tightly 

 that it requires hard pulling with an iron hook to dislodge it. 



The sparrows kill the young martins by pecking their skulls 

 or necks ; they then throw them out and start building a nest 

 for themselves. Occasionally I have discovered a sparrow 

 sneaking about the boxes, without any apparent intention of 

 building a nest, watching for an opportunity to kill the young 

 birds. At one time a male sparrow killed and threw out seven 

 small nestlings before I brought him down. He was always 

 on the alert and had a sly way of slipping from the box and 

 hiding in the trees or vines when a member of our family ap- 

 peared, and easily detected me endeavoring to get a shot at 

 him, no difference how I tried to conceal myself. But during 

 the third day of his persistent murdering, I got a glimpse of 

 his head as he stretched up over a grape leaf to get a peep at 

 me, and then quickly drop back out of sight. I had him well 

 located this time, and firing at the leaf I brought down the 

 murderer from behind it. 



For shooting the pests, I use a small rifle — 22 calibre — and 

 dust shot shells and seldom lose a shot. During the summer 

 months I kill upwards of three hundred sparrows which I find 

 paying attention to my martin houses. To secure a good col- 

 ony of martins it is necessary to get rid of the sparrows. I 

 do not allow a single pair to nest on my premises ; and the 

 bird houses I erected for the martins only. 



Several times I have picked up dying martins which had 

 struck against the telephone wires in dropping down to one of 

 the boxes. A pair of these wires connecting our telephone 

 and passing about fifty feet from house No. 3, caused so much 

 annoyance of this nature that I had the telephone company 

 change it ; substituting a pair, heavily insolated and twisted 

 together, which the birds see easily, even at dusk. The wire 

 also serves for a perch, often as many as fifty birds collect- 

 ing on it in front of their box. 



