PURPLE MARTIN. 149 
dote communicated to him by the late John Joseph Henry, 
Esq., Judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, of the 
place put up by him for the reception of the Martins having 
been forestalled by SBlue-birds. The latter succeeded in 
repelling the former, and kept possession of their abode, and 
this for eight successive years; the Martins always attempting 
to obtain a footing, but being as uniformly forced to give 
up the attempt. 
The following specimens of the Purple Martin have been 
met with in this country:—Two were shot on different days 
by Mr. John Calvert, of Paddington, the first week in Sep- 
tember, 1842, at the reservoir, Kingsbury, Middlesex. One 
was a young bird of the year, the outside tail feathers not 
being grown to their full length, the other was an old male 
in full plumage. 
In Ireland, one was shot near Kingstown, in the county 
of Dublin, and is now preserved in the Museum of the 
Royal Dublin Society. 
The Purple Martin, as may be imagined, is migratory in 
its habits, arriving at the scene of its parental duties in 
May, being to be observed on the way thither at various 
half-way houses in February, March, and April, and leaving 
again about the 20th. of August. ‘Unde datum sentit;’ 
whence it is gifted to know, the time when, in pursuance 
of the not-to-be-resisted mandate of nature, 1t must set out 
on its travels, and, in obedience to the lke dictate, the time 
when it must again return by the same route by which it 
went forth on its long journey, is hidden in the unfathomable 
mind of that Divine Being whose thoughts are past finding 
out; ‘His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts 
than our thoughts.’ How, too, does the Swallow know the 
place to which it must wend its way; and how does it track 
the trackless path to it? 
Insects are the food of the Purple Martin, and of these 
bees constitute an ordinary portion, as also wasps, and even 
beetles of large size. 
‘Just as dawn approaches, the Martin begins its notes, 
which last half a minute or more, and then subside until 
the twilight is fairly broken. An animated and incessant 
musical chattering now ensues, sufficient to arouse the most 
sleepy person.’ The usual note is described as resembling 
the syllables, ‘peuo, peuo, peuo,’ frequently succeeded by others 
more low and guttural. 
