BIRDS OF THE AIR. 253 



from immemorial time has protected it. The aboriginal 

 inhabitants set hollowed gourds upon the trees to draw 

 the Martins to their huts. And when the white man 

 came, he provided them with a meeting-house, consider- 

 ing it a fitting structure for their musical congregations. 



The Purple Martin utters a series of notes which are 

 so varied and continued as to deserve to be called a song. 

 This song has attracted less attention from those who 

 have described the habits of our birds than it merits. 

 In my early days I have listened for hours to the peculiar 

 notes of the Purple Martin, in which a variety of chatter- 

 ing and chuckling is combined with a low guttural trill, 

 resembling certain parts of the song of the Bed-Thrush. 

 The Martin, however, does not give himself up to song. 

 His notes are heard chiefly while on the wing ; but they 

 are almost incessant. He is constantly in motion, and 

 his song seems to me one of the most animated and 

 cheerful sounds uttered by any American bird except 

 the Bobolink. 



The flight of the Purple Martin and his peculiar ways 

 render him exceedingly interesting and amusing. Sur- 

 passed by no bird in swiftness, there is none that equals 

 him in the beauty of his movements on the wing, uniting 

 grace and vivacity in a remarkable degree. Often skim- 

 ming the surface of ponds, or swiftly gliding along a pub- 

 lic road a few feet from the ground, then soaring above 

 the height of the lower clouds, he sails about with but 

 little motion of the wings, till he is out of sight. These 

 flights seem to be made for his own amusement ; for it 

 cannot be supposed that he finds the larger insects that 

 constitute his prey at so great a height. 



The boldness displayed by the Purple Martin in driving 

 Hawks and Crows from his neighborhood accounts for the 

 respect in which he was held by the Indians, who were 

 great admirers of courage. " So well known," says Wil- 



