( )il City, Pa., June (>. 1909! 

 Dear Mr. Jacobs: 



My martin house for past two days lias been very interesting. I 

 think there are now either seven or eight pairs located and quite a 

 number of visitors come and go, as I find on investigation that there 

 are several colonies in the city. The first pair took' up quarters in the 

 north gable room and then others took possession of the porch rooms. 

 I set the house with the porch facing the north and side porch to east. 

 In one of the south rooms a pair of wrens have established themselves 

 and. as they seem to mind their own business, 1 thought I would not 

 disturb them in their home making. In this I may have made a mis- 

 take, as a friend informed me this morning that he knew of a case 

 where the wrens had destroyed the martins' eggs and killed some young 

 martins. I hope by the end of the month to have a house full of 

 martins. I have sent to Harrisburg and Washington, I). C, for bulle- 

 tins on these birds and will keep close track' of them, as all the family 

 have gotten interested in the cheery chattering neighbors. They are 

 large sized birds the dark males particularly, and they too, the males, 

 seem to build the nest, or, carry most of the material. 1 thought I 

 saw them to-day with a beak full of mud. 



Xe\t year I shall put up a much larger house, if all goes well. 



Yours truly, 



S. Y. Ramage. 



