WHAT I HAVE DONE WITH BIRDS 



The male Martin never brooded, but his other attentions to his 

 mate seemed delicate, constant and tender. When the Sparrows 

 became too aggressive, he spent every minute, when not bathing 

 or food-hunting, doing sentinel duty on the telephone wire only a 

 few feet from his front door. When one considers the tireless 

 flight of the Martin, which seems for ever winging the air, one 

 can not help feeling that those long stretches of watching, cling- 

 ing to the hot wire, were punishment indeed. 



But like the brave soldier he was, the Martin stood sentinel 

 on the wire and I secured many good pictures of him there : pic- 

 tures in which the force and strength of his character show plainly. 

 Once I caught him when he was watching with forceful determi- 

 nation to guard that nest or die ; and once when he was gathered 

 for a dart and even as the shutter sprang he shot like a catapult 

 at his enemy. 



One day he proved himself a soldier indeed, by an act of 

 strategy that human warriors have employed since time began. 

 While he was away from home, from some pressure the female 

 felt she must leave the nest. She came to the door and looked all 

 about for him and called several times, but he probably was at the 

 river, as he returned in high flight from that direction. Failing 

 to call him to guard, after some hesitation the female left, also 

 flying toward the river. 



She was not out of sight before the Sparrow in the ash left 

 her nest and entered the Martin house, turned around and filled 

 the door with her head and shoulders. It was only a few seconds 

 until Father Martin struck the wire, and from my hammock on 

 the veranda a few feet away, screened by the wistaria, I could 

 see the rage that shook him. He evidently thought it unwise to 

 attack the Sparrow in his nest, so he darted to the ash, perched on 

 the edge of the Sparrow's nest, ripped a big beakful of straw 

 from it, and with a quick jerk of his head scattered it on the wind. 



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