NESTING-HOUSES 33 



English sparrow. In the following spring many 

 of the houses were visited by the martins, but 

 few occupied. In some cases failure to reoccupy 

 the houses may have been due to the fact that 

 they had not been cleaned, but still contained 

 the remains of the birds which had died the pre- 

 vious year. Several observers reported that the 

 houses which had been cleaned were occupied by 

 the martins, while those which had not been 

 cleaned were not used. It seems to be a precau- 

 tion worth noting to clean the houses each year 

 before the migrants return. 



As the result of extensive correspondence, Mr. 

 Forbush could find authentic records of the 

 breeding of the purple martin in only five local- 

 ities in Massachusetts during the season of 1904. 

 During the season of 1908 Mr. Horton was able 

 to find records of only one colony breeding in 

 the eastern part of Vermont, that at Lyndon- 

 ville. For the same season, Mr. Forbush writes : 

 " Martins are still very plentiful in Eastern 

 Maine, where the bad weather of 1903-04 hardly 

 made itself felt at all. Also there are a good 

 many in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and 

 quite a few in New Hampshire." 



The martins are valuable birds from the eco- 

 nomic standpoint, and it is well worth while to 

 make efforts to induce them to return to the 



