19 



^Something about the Purple Martin. 



[Progne Subis.~\ 



On August 17th last I read in a Pittsburg (Pa.) daily, a 

 dispatch from New Martinsville, West Virginia, stating that 

 thousands of "wall martins" or "swallows" came into the 

 town to roost on the telephone wires and so great was the 

 weight thrown on the wires that the telephone company 

 became alarmed lest the increasing flocks break down their 

 wire service. 



These birds were on their way to the South (West In- 

 dies, Central and South America) where they remain dur- 

 ing our autumn and winter. 



Suspecting the birds to be the Purple House Martin, 

 and being desirous of settling this point and facts as to the 

 number of birds, I wrote my friend and former fellow towns- 

 man, Frank V. lams, attorney, now residing in the West 



*Published February 1, 1908, in "The Zoological Bulletin of the Divi- 

 sion of Zoology of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture," Vol. V., 

 No. 10, Harrisburg, Pa., — pages 312 to 317. Prof. H. A. Surface, Economic 

 Zoologist. Preceding the article, Prof. Surface presents the following 

 comment: 



"We take pleasure in presenting to the public an article on the Pur- 

 ple Martin, written at our request, expressly for this Bulletin, by Mr. J. 

 Warren Jacobs, of Waynesburg, Pa., who has had more practical experi- 

 ence in colonizing these birds around his premises than any other 

 person in this State. We would call special attention to this article, as the 

 manner of writing is straightforward, and every sentence shows that it is 



based upon a definite practical knowledge of the subject. 



* * * 



"We know from observation that Martins occasionally do fly in small 

 groups over the State, even in counties remote from anywhere they have 

 nested in boxes, apparently seeking suitable nesting sites. We have fre- 

 quently known of their nesting beneath the hoods of electric lamps, and in 

 the borough of Mechanicsburg, Pa., we have seen them nesting on a flat 

 board beneath the roof of an awning over the street. At Glenn's Falls, 

 N. Y., we saw large insects, such as Dragon Flies, that had been killed by 

 Purple Martins, and carried to their nests for their young, but dropped be- 

 neath their boxes because the insects were too large to be eaten by the 

 young birds." 



