20 



Virginia city. In reply Mr. lams corroborated the published 

 dispatch, except that the telephone company, owning the 

 wires, had not yet deemed it necessary to molest the birds. 

 The birds, he said were ' 'all House Martins, such as nest 

 in boxes put up for their use." He further stated that the 

 published statement that there were ten thousand of 

 the birds, far underestimated the number, for he could 

 sit at his own home and see more than that number; and 

 the lines stretched out of sight of his residence. 



On Sept. 7th Mr. lams was in Waynesburg, and I had a 

 further interesting talk with him about the gathering of 

 Martins. After replying to my letter he gave the birds 

 further attention and found they continued to increase in 

 numbers until, he thinks, there were nearly 25,000, if this es- 

 timate is not inadequate. After the 28th of August they 

 began to diminish in numbers until, when he last saw them, 

 Sept. 5, only about one-fourth remained. 



The birds came into the town in large streams or 

 "string-flocks" from all directions. Those coming down 

 the Ohio River, and those coming up the stream, being the 

 largest. At some parts the flocks were over a hundred feet 

 wide. They seemed to come to the town by way of near- 

 by valleys. Besides the large flocks already mentioned, un- 

 usually large assemblies came down the Fishing and Doolin 

 Valleys, and from the valleys coming into the Ohio from the 

 opposite side of the river. When the birds reached the 

 town, which was at about dusk, they would circle around 

 before settling on the wires. 



From the foregoing it would seem that our beloved 

 House Martin is in no immediate danger of extinction, not- 

 withstanding bad weather conditions, during the past four 

 years, have affected them, at nesting time, all over Eastern 

 United States, and in some sections, especially the New 

 England States, where they once thrived, they are now al- 

 most extinct. 



My own colony, which increased steadily from 1896, 

 until about eighty pairs nested in 1904, and which is pro- 

 vided with the best accommodations, and afforded the best 



