98 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



duller. The female is dull blackish above, the tips of 

 feathers slightly glossed with bluish black, with a nearly 

 complete grayish collar reaching around from the throat 

 in a narrow band; throat and breast, ashy; belly, white; 

 all the feathers with dark centers. Young males are 

 like the females, but are darker on the breast. The bill 

 of the Martin is very short and broad at the base, exact- 

 ly like that of the Swallow, to which the present bird is 

 closely related. 



The birds nest in houses built for that purpose or 

 when these are not convenient in hollow trees. The nest 

 is made of twigs and straws, with no attempt at any de- 

 sign. The eggs are either four or five in number, white, 

 and one inch by three- fourths of an inch in size. 



The birds breed throughout temperate North America 

 and spend the winter in Mexico. In New Jersey they ap- 

 pear about the first of April and leave about the first of 

 September. They are more numerous in the southern 

 part of the state than in the northern. Some four or five 

 years ago they materially decreased in number, but dur- 

 ing the past two years they have been more numerous. 

 Although they persistently annoy hawks and owls, they 

 avoid contact with the English Sparrow, although at 

 times flocks of Martins have been known to rout flocks of 

 Sparrows, especially when the latter had taken possession 

 of the houses occupied by the Martins for a number of 

 years. Their food consists of wasps, bees, beetles and 

 other insects and they are very industrious in providing 

 for their young. Mr. Otto Widmann, of Old Orchard, 

 Missouri, watched a colony of sixteen pairs of Martins 

 from four o'clock in the morning until eight in the even- 

 ing; during this time the parent birds visited their off- 

 spring 3/277 times, or on an average 205 times for each 

 pair. The males made 1,454, the females 1,823 visits. 



,?frf r/m, Sand. See Bank Swallow. 

 Marsh Hen. See King Rail and Bittern. 



