476 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



nothing of the martins until noon, when I heard one overhead. 

 In the afternoon I saw several hawkina; over the meadow one-half 

 mile away with the barn swallows. The sight of these few martins 

 led me to infer that the entire colony had " weathered " the storm. 



As I was not near the bird boxes in the afternoon of the 22d, I 

 cannot say how many martins were to be seen there. 



I was not in Lynufield Centre for several days after the 22d, 

 but the following facts have been furnished me by Mr. Carl 

 Russell, in whose father's yard the martin colony was located. 

 On Tuesday, June 23, the weather was cool and more or less 

 misty. It rained at 9 a.m. and at other times during the day. 

 The weather might be best described as " heavy." On Wednes- 

 day, June 24, the weather continued cool or even cold. It rained 

 hard in the morning before 8. A fine, drizzling rain began falling 

 at 11.45 A.M., and continued more or less through the rest of the 

 day. "On Wednesday morning," says Mr. Russell, "I found 

 the feathers and other remains of a male martin on the piazza. 

 This was the cat's work. I do not know whether the cat picked 

 up the martin alive or dead. After dinner I found a dead male 

 martin on the ground near the hen coop. Inside the hen yard I 

 found another male, just alive ; he was quite wet and could not 

 stand. I took him into the house and put him near the stove, and 

 fed him pieces of worm. He did not eat very much. Unless I 

 put the food way down his throat, he would throw it up. In 

 about half an hour, after drying off, he seemed to be much brighter 

 and stronger. He could stand up (which he could not do before, 

 apparently because he was so weak), and could run around the 

 floor ; but in a little while he died. About this time I noticed 

 that the cat was eating a female martin on the piazza. Cannot 

 say whether she got it alive or dead. Shortly after I looked out 

 of the window and saw another male martin lying on the grass. 

 I picked him up. He could not fly, apparently being too weak, 

 but flapped his wings and kicked. He ate pieces of a worm, but 

 did not seem very hungry. He was quite wet, but after getting 

 dry in the kitchen he flew all around the room. I took him out of 

 doors and he flew across the yard and alighted on the fence. He 

 could not fly very well, and I brought him back into the house. 

 He seemed all right for the rest of the da3% and when we went to 

 bed we left him perching on a chair, but the next morning we 

 found him dead. On this day (25th) we found another dead martin 

 in the yard. The cat also picked up another one somewhere." 



On June 29 I investigated the interiors of the two martin boxes. 

 In one of the little rooms were seven dead adult birds packed 

 closely together, — four females and three males. The inference 



