278 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



quoted, writing of this bird in 1798, remarks, " I have ob- 

 served that several weeks after the first appearance of the 

 swallows in the spring, the coming on of a cold day has 

 occasioned in them great distress. The following fact 

 will strikingly illustrate what I am saying. The begin- 

 ning of the month of April, 1773, was unusually warm. 

 In the vicinity of Philadelphia the clover in some of 

 the fields was five or six inches high. The martins 

 (Hirundo purpurea) were seen about the city : at this 

 time there came on suddenly a very severe spell of cold 

 weather. It destroyed many of these birds, several of 

 which were seen to drop down, benumbed or dead, 

 among the clover." 



This clearly shows that no peculiarity of our climate 

 has caused these birds to remain away from their old- 

 time haunts. The reason is not known, and probably 

 unascertainable. It is to be classed with the changes of 

 habits of many other species, as the Carolina parrot, 

 mocking-bird, summer redbird, and sand-hill crane. Once 

 they were prominent features of our avi-f auna ; now they 

 are so no longer. 



My grandfather told me, many years ago, of the sud- 

 den appearance here of a colony of martins. In April, 

 1794, a pair of sparrow-hawks nested in a hollow in the 

 trunk of a tall tulip-tree, and remained with their young 

 in and about the spot until the following autumn. 

 Early in April, 1795, a large number of martins made 

 their appearance, and finding no more suitable locality 

 took possession of the tulip-tree. Immediately after, a 

 pair of sparrow-hawks came upon the scene, and at once 

 disputed the right of the swallows to it. Had there 



