4 Tram. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 



tion the happy couple visits the apple tree to line the 

 nest with green leaves. The nest is now ready for the 

 reception of eggs and oviposition begins. In strong con- 

 trast to the doings of the European House Sparrow, 

 which continually offends the eyesight by his endless 

 attempts, the copulations of the Martin are performed 

 at such an early hour of the morning that they are seldom 

 seen by human eyes. At this period, when in the dawn 

 of the morning he greets the approaching day with sweet 

 music from the door of his home, the voice of the male 

 Martin has a peculiar softness, and his utterances on 

 these occasions are entirely different from what he says 

 at other times. 



Before nest-building has made much progress the Mar- 

 tins do not watch their boxes all day, and especially in 

 cool, dry weather the procuring of food necessitates their 

 absence from home for hours at a time, and often when 

 they return in the evening they find their homes invaded 

 by the European House Sparrow. In such cases, par- 

 ticularly when the Sparrow has already begun to fill up 

 the box with his rubbish, the chances for a recapture of 

 the box by the Martin are poor, unless a friendly hand 

 comes to his help. 



After the nests are finished the watch is kept close and 

 often the precaution is taken to cover the newly-laid 

 eggs with a fresh supply of green leaves. 



Besides concealing the eggs from the eyes of intruders 

 it also serves to keep them cool. But in starvation times 

 nest and eggs are left alone long enough to give the 

 Sparrow time to enter the house. The Sparrows, how- 

 ever, are not the only ones that play havoc with the hid- 

 den treasures ; the House Wren also has been seen to 

 intrude and to throw the eggs out of the Martin's box. 

 The Bluejay, the (Irackle, the Robin and the Catbird 

 have been seen to inspect the inside of the bird-houses, 

 and it is a question whether such visits are not danger- 



