No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 259 



squirrels and cats may be kept from ascending the pole of a 

 martin box hy the use of a flaring tin or zinc collar (see 

 Fig. 1 ) ; and if a long box 16 to 18 inches high (see Fig. 2), 

 Avith a hole ll/> inches in diameter, is put up at a distance of 

 200 feet or more from the martin box and within 10 feet of 

 the ground it will generally prove more attractive to the blue- 

 birds than will an ordinary martin box. 



Tree swallows also take boxes vacated by the martins. 

 In this connection the " notice " published by Audubon in 

 1838 from the pen of T. M. Brewer, and referred to above, 

 may be quoted : — 



A trivial fact will, I think, show how exceedingly attached these 

 birds are to certain districts. Not many years ago an unusually cold 

 season destroyed all the birds of this species in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of Boston ; and, although those met within twenty miles of 

 the sea shore escaped with comparatively' little loss, yet the place of 

 the dead martins has never to this day been made good, excepting 

 by the intrusion of another species. Perhaps this fact proved 

 nothing; it, however, appears to me to show that these birds return 

 in spring to the places Avhere they are reared ; or why, if the young 

 of the last year ramble in search of convenient boxes, should none 

 have come here, although they are around us I It cannot be that 

 they are not a match for the White-bellied swallows {Hirundo 

 hicolor) which have taken their places.^ 



While the martins are usually more than a match for the 

 tree swallows, the latter as well as the bluebirds and spar- 

 rows have a decided advantage, as they are usually on the 

 ground earlier than the martins, and if they once get posses- 

 sion of the boxes they will fight with great fury in the defense 

 of their homes, and when once they have nested in a box or 

 apartment they are likely to hold it. Hence the value of the 

 policy of keeping the martin box closed against all comers 

 until the looked-for tenants arrive. In the mean time, other 

 boxes should be provided, at some distance, for other species. 

 Some who have experimented in this way have observed that 

 tree swallows and bluebirds, while selecting a domicile and 

 building the nest, often play the part of the dog in the manger 

 by driving other birds away, not only from their own nesting 

 boxes but also from any empty boxes near by. If, however, 

 the swallows or bluebirds have chosen their nests and begun 



1 Audubon, John J., " Oruitliological Biography," Vol. V., p. 408, 1849. 



