40 



Result of Hatching Eggs of the Purple Martin 

 in the Nests of Other Birds. 



My first experiment in hatching Martin eggs in the 

 nests of other birds was in 1905, when on May 22, I sent 

 twelve to Charles Kingsbury, Barnard, N. Y., for placing 

 in some Barn Swallows' nests. Three nests of the Swallows 

 were selected, their eggs removed and those of the Martin 

 put in. One of these nests was deserted immediately by 

 the old birds, who built another near by. 



Lack of time prevented Mr. Kingsbury from giving at- 

 tention to the others. While he noted the old Swallows to go 

 back on their nests immediately they did not complete incu- 

 bation, for several weeks later he found the nests deserted 

 and the Martin eggs intact. 



In sending these eggs to Mr. Kingsbury, I advised re- 

 moving a part of the Swallow eggs and substituting two 

 or three of those of the Martin. For some cause, probably 

 on account of scarcity of Swallows nests, he removed the en- 

 tire set of the rightful owner and substituted three and 

 four eggs of the Martin. 



The fact that the eggs of the Purple Martin are twice 

 as bulky as those of the Barn Swallow and are pure white, 

 whereas those of the latter are highly spotted, may be the 

 cause of immediate desertion by the Swallow. 



However that may be, the following summer, 1906, he 

 experimented by removing only a part of the swallow com- 

 plement from three nests and replacing them with pairs of 

 Martin eggs in two cases and a single one in another. 

 This was done about 7 or 8 of June, and in a letter dated 

 June 27, Mr. Kingsbury informed me that one Martin had 

 hatched; and a week later (July 3), he wrote that the young 

 Swallows in the other two nests had flown. The Martin 

 eggs had become addled on account of being placed in the 

 nests too late. In his letter of July 10, he writes that a few 

 days previously, the swallows took their own offspring, two 

 in number, now fully able to fly, from the barn and aban- 



