No 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 255 



il was luucli less so in other parts of New York, in Maine, 

 l)art of JS'ew liani])shire and in Connecticut and Rhode 

 Island. During Lyell's second visit to the United States, 

 undertaken in 18-15, only nine years after the great destruc- 

 tion of martins, he says: — 



The larger kind of house martin is encouraged everywhere; small 

 wooden boxes being' made for them on roofs or on top of poles, 

 resembling pigeon houses, which may often be seen on the top of a 

 sign-post before a New England inn. They are useful in chasing 

 away bu'ds of prey from the poultry yard, and I once saw a few 

 of them attacking- a large hawk. But I suspect they are chiefly 

 favored for mere amusement's sake, and welcomed like our swallows 

 as the messengers of spring on their annual return from the south. 

 It is pleasing to hear them chattering with each other, and to mark 

 their elegant forms and bluish black plumage, or to watch them on 

 the wing, floating gently in the air or darting rapidly after insects.' 



At the time this was written Lyell was traveling in Mas- 

 sachusetts. This indicates that in nine years after the great 

 catastrophe of 183G the birds had become common again, 

 while in the present instance six years have gone by and the 

 martins are still very rare or entirely absent throughout most 

 of the State. 



Martins in considerable numbers doubtless migrate through 

 the State in spring and in late summer or early fall 

 on their Avay to and from Maine, new Hampshire and the 

 maritime Provinces. It is a well-known fact that during 

 the summer martins often visit boxes at considerable dis- 

 tances from their own. It is now believed that young birds, 

 in their first season, travel considerable distances in all direc- 

 tions from the homes of their nativity. When the martins 

 return in the spring the adult birds that occupied the boxes 

 the year before are believed to be the first to arrive. They 

 are followed later by the young of the previous year, and 

 when the boxes are filled the surplus young birds are driven 

 out and have to search for homes elsewhere. Doubtless many 

 young martins wander into the State from Connecticut and 

 Rhode Island in the summer, during their first long flights 



1 Lyell, Sir Charles, " A Second Visit to the United StJites of North America," 1849, 

 Vol. I., p. 35. 



