216 SOME COMMON LAND-BIRDS. 



the female would look about for suitable straws, picking one 

 or twc long, heavy ones. She always made her own selection 

 and carried her own load, though the male made every journey 

 with her. Whether she discouraged male interference and 

 wished to choose the furniture herself, or whether he escorted 

 her to defend her, was never plain; but the males of that 

 community, while kind, loving, and full of deference to 

 their wives, never carried any burden. The nest was finished 

 with a few fresh feathers ; but how it was constructed was 

 one of the secrets of the martin house that no boy ever 

 was reckless enough to try to discover. 



There was a time when the martins nested in holes in trees, 

 and in Southern California they still do that. In the South, 

 gourds or calabashes were often hung where they could build in 

 the hollow shell. And it seems probable that at some time they 

 may have built a mud nest like the English martin and our 

 eaves-swallow; for there is a record that a pair that were 

 troubled by water dripping from the eaves of their house and 

 running under the nest, built a wall of mud two inches wide 

 and six long, weighing half a pound, as a water-guard, showing 

 that they had not forgotten the mason's trade. 



When men are friendly, the martin lives without fear. Cats 

 cannot climb to his castle, hawks cannot overtake him on the 

 wing, none have an. enmity against him, and he bears ill will 

 to none, with a single exception. One year, when he. came 

 back from the South, the martin found the muddy tracks of 

 a strange bird on his verandas, his castle filled with rubbish, 

 and a harsh-voiced ragamuffin in possession. The English 

 sparrow had moved in. And the English sparrow was invited 

 to move out again with more speed than ceremony. How the 

 angry martins flew at him, how they tossed every stick of his 

 dirty furniture after him, and raged in their wrath against the 



