76 Bird - Lore 



be separate and draft-proof. Usually the door-sill is the floor line, although 

 many authorities advocate raising the sill about }4. inch above the floor and 

 porch levels, which prevents rain water from flooding the rooms. No wind- 

 wheels, flagpoles, lightning-rods or other fantastic appliances should be fast- 

 ened to the house. This point is often raised by beginners. A blind chimney or 

 two may be built on to the roof for the sake of beauty and symmetry, and 

 besides a chimney makes the house more cozy and homelike. 



The house should be substantially built of ^- to i-inch pine or other wood 

 so as to withstand the weather. It should be painted white because white is 

 the coolest color. During the hot weather the young birds suffer much from 

 the intense heat of the sun. The writer usually paints the roof a darker color, 

 often some shade of green, never red. Avoid a red color because all birds in- 

 stinctively shun a red bird-box. 



The height of the box above the ground should be from 13 to 16 feet, never 

 less, although the author knew of one old established colony living in a house 

 only 7 feet from the ground. The box should not be fastened to the pole with 

 brackets, but with angle irons, and vines should not be grown around the pole, 

 for the birds are afraid of cats climbing the pole^a cat-proof pole is absolutely 

 essential. 



To curb the English Sparrow, take down the house or close all the openings 

 after the Martins are gone. Either method is effective. In Bird-Lore, January, 

 1914, the author covered many other points in his article, 'Notes on How To 

 Start a Colony of Purple Martins.' 



A few years ago the writer studied a handsome ten-room bird-house which 

 the Martins would not inhabit after four or five years of trial and believed that 

 the box may have been improperly designed. He bought this box and found the 

 openings to measure 2 inches square. This is rather too small for the Martins 

 to enter easily and carry in nesting material. The entrances were enlarged by 

 cutting a semi-circular arch over the doorways, making the new height 3 inches. 

 Last year this box was erected at the Youghiogheny Country Club near Mc- 

 Keesport and about three pairs of Martins immediately occupied the pretty 

 residence. 



Few people realize how permanent a Martin colony may be. McKeesport 

 has one colony over thirty years old and still as thriving as ever and there had 

 been one within 100 feet of this one for over forty years previous, which carries 

 us back well before the advent of the English Sparrow. The writer put up his 

 first Martin-box about twenty five years ago at Kittanning and the successful 

 colony still flourishes. Since then he has started many colonies at other places. 

 His last effort at his present home in McKeesport has been unsuccessful and 

 every scheme and device was used in vain. The birds seemed to come and stay 

 a few days and then leave. The house was the identical one that the Martins 

 loved at his former residence only six or eight blocks distant. Finally one spring 

 day, upon coming home, he caught one of the neighbor's boys stoning a Martin 



