330 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



swayed very much in the wind or more firmly to establish 

 their right, it was well on toward the middle of May before 

 the mother laid her first egg. 



In the meantime other pairs had commenced to build, 

 selecting various portions of the huge beams that acted as 

 plates for Kalacoon house. The nests were composed of 

 sticks, straws, dried grass, string, cloth and anything that 

 would act as building material. They were placed back from 

 the edge of the beam usually in a corner next to a floor joist. 

 The spot, where the birds had been regularly roosting, was 

 usually selected for the home site, for when they find an ideal 

 location they remain there all their lives, or at least until 

 conditions change. Unlike the purple martin, the too near 

 company of others was not desired and it went hard with the 

 individual who inadvertently overstepped his neighbor's ter- 

 ritory. In this respect they resembled some human beings. 



The Kalacoon martins commenced to lay about the first 

 of April. Every bird had been busy for the two preceding- 

 weeks collecting material, courting, and fighting. Sometimes 

 a dozen or more would gather on the ground in front of the 

 house and sort over the little twigs and dried grass blades 

 lying there. This always was attended with perfect harmony 

 until two birds would decide that they both liked the same 

 stick. They resorted then to force in the dispute that fol- 

 lowed, and the fight would go on up in the air or down on the 

 ground, until both were exhausted. In the meantime the 

 object of their differences was usually spirited away by a 

 third party. At any rate they always forgot what they were 

 fighting about and never returned to the spot to look for it. 

 Again, one would be sitting alone, awaiting her mate by the 

 prospective nest. Suddenly, after many beautiful evolutions 

 in the air, he would join her, and their admiration for one 

 another was shown by wide open bills and a perfect babble 

 of warbles. They would sit thus for a few moments each 

 with its mouth open, or they snapped bills at imaginary in- 

 sects, as if one were urging the other to feed it. Then each 



