■6 



THE OOLOGIST 



They completed their nest and were 

 ready to lay their eggs about the first of 

 May, when a pair of Martins came. The 

 Martins seemed to think their cousins, 

 the swallows, were out of place in leav- 

 ing their old site and taking the home 

 that was built for them, and a quarrel 

 was begun. The female swallow would 

 sit in the door, and the male perched 

 upon the top of the house. The Mar- 

 tina circled about the house singing 

 their song usually heard in the early 

 morning. 



The swallows stood quiet and resolute 

 to defend their house and awaited an 

 attack. Soon the Martins circled near- 

 er and nearer and made an attempt to 

 alight on the house, but were repulsed 

 by the swallows. After one Martin had 

 been prevented from forcing an en- 

 trance the other one would make an at- 

 tack. At first they only swooped near 

 the swallows as if to measure their ad- 

 versary's courage and strength, but 

 after a little manouvering they would 

 grapple with a swallow and they would 

 flutter over and over each other and fall 

 to the ground, sometimes exhausted. 

 But the swallow would at once return 

 to its door stool ready for another at- 

 tack. Whenever the male swallow 

 would return to his mate he would ca- 

 ress her and chatter away as though tell- 

 ing her he had beaten the Martins. This 

 would take place in the morning, and 

 after two or three hours of hard fought 

 battle the Martins would retire, leaving 

 the swallows in possession of their well 

 defended home. In the afternoon the 

 Martins would return and make a short- 

 er struggle, then leave till the next 

 morning. This struggle went on for 

 about a week and it was difiicult to say 

 which would be the victors, but after 

 about a week's struggle the Martins 

 forced several entrances. 



They did not want the other apart- 

 ments, but that very one the swallows 

 occupied. Soon the swallows tired of 

 the fight, and wishing to rear their 



young in peace, also feelins that the 

 Martins were getting the best, of them, 

 retired from the scene of battle and im- 

 mediatnl} built in the old site in the 

 apple trep, lenving the Martins to oc- 

 cupy tht-ir newly acquired possessions 

 They wtre very proud of their acquired 

 domains Mud would sit at the entrance 

 the swhUmw.s had of^eupied and sing as 

 never Martins sang. 



They did not remove all the nest of 

 the swallows, nor did they occupy it, 

 evidently thinking it too downy an af- 

 fair for their use, but built one of coarse 

 grasses, with a small quantity of mud 

 intermixed, on the whole a rather coarse 

 structure They reared their young un- 

 molested. In this locality they do not 

 rear but one brood in a season, and 

 leave in August for a warmer clime. 



The next year the swallows returned 

 April 17th, and made at once fur the 

 bird house. They staid about it, and 

 soon began to build a nest in the apart- 

 ment they had chosen the previous year, 

 and seemingly had forgotten their un- 

 pleasant evacuation the year before. 



They were very happy in building 

 this nest as usual, and took the same 

 trouble with it, and lined it very neatly 

 as before, and succeeded in laying two 

 eggs before driven out in the same man- 

 ner as the year previous. But they had 

 to go, and as before took up with the 

 old site in the orchard. 



In the spring of '89 the swallows ar- 

 rived April 16th, and the same story 

 was repeated as in the two years prev- 

 ious. After the Martins had left a be- 

 lated Bluebird (Sialia sialis) built a nest 

 in one of the lower apartments and 

 reared a brood of four young. 



The spring of '90 the Swallows had 

 four eggs laid, and incubation begun, 

 before the Martins drove them out. The 

 four eggs I found on the ground beneath 

 the house were the Martins had thrown 

 them. 



Thus the struggle between these cous- 

 ins went on for the next six years and I 



