VERMONT BIRD CI. UB 9 



MY SECOND ATTEMPT TO COLONIZE THE 

 PURPLE MARTIN. 



BY WILLIAM C. HORTON. 



Last spring I again tried to re-establish the colony of Purple 

 Martins which once thrived in my bird houses in Brattleboro, but 

 the experiment was as complete a failure, as far as I can learn, 

 as was my attempt the year previous. In 1907 I tried to raise 

 Purple Martins by putting a setting of eggs, secured from J. 

 Warren Jacobs, Waynesburg, Pa., under the Tree Swallows then 

 nesting in my bird houses. This proved a complete failure as 

 told in the last Bulletin of the Club. Last year Mr. Jacobs 

 kindly sent me two pair of yearling martins from his large colony, 

 using every precaution to have ihem arrive safely. Although 

 everything that I could think of was done to insure their staying 

 in my bird houses, they flew away and did not return. 



Mr. Jacobs selected two pair of birds that had already mat- 

 ed and were beginning to build their nests in his bird houses. 

 They were shipped by express in a commodious box with food 

 and water and arrived in Brattleboro in apparently good condition 

 after their journey of 500 miles or more. 



My bird houses had been prepared for their occupancy by a 

 thorough cleaning and a screen door had been arranged over the 

 entrance to their home to keep them in a short time until they 

 had become used to their surroundings. I placed the birds in the 

 b'rd house about 3 o'clock on the afternoon of their arrival. 

 They were then strong and vigorous, fighting some among them- 

 selves at tirst. I had provided an abundant supply of insect food 

 in the house, not knowing positively that they would eat in this 

 manner as their habit is to take food on the wing. 



The following morning I went out at 3.40 o'clock, just as 

 the other birds were beginning to sing, and pulled the string that 

 worked the screen door. It fell to the ground noiselessly, not 

 in the lea^t disturbing the martins. Secreting myself where they 

 could not see me, I began to watch for their appearance. A few 

 minutes after 4 o'clock one of the martins, a male, went out of 

 the door of his new home like a bullet, and without stopping to 

 look about him went across a small pond and out of sight. I 

 was uncertain whether the bird went into the woods on the op- 

 posite side of the pond or continued on a long flight as the habit 



