A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol XX March— April, 1918 No. 2 



Some Notes on Martin Colonies 



I. WHY NOT ESTABLISH A PURPLE MARTIN COLONY 



THIS YEAR? 



By GRACE ReSHORE, Dowagiac, Mich. 



IF YOU love the companionship of birds, plan to establish a Purple Martin 

 colony this year on your home grounds. 

 Several years ago, a bird-loving friend said to me one April day, "I 

 see, on the wires about the city, hundreds of Martins that I think would nest 

 and spend the summer here if they could find suitable nesting-places." 



For years we have had one colony in the cornice of one of our business 

 blocks; the space is limited, and when the young birds return to the home 

 nesting-place, after their winter in South America, they are obliged to move 

 on to find and make new homes for themselves. The old birds will, if the nests 

 suit them, return each year to the old home and bring their family with them, 

 who in turn will make for themselves new homes in the same locality, if suit- 

 able places can be found. 



In my innocence and ignorance, I wrote Ernest Harold Baynes, a well-known 

 authority on the subject, that there were Martins in the town, but that I 

 had never seen them about our place — did he think I could get them to locate 

 there? He replied that I had never seen them, probably for the reason that I 

 had never had anything there to attract them ; that, if I would put up a Martin- 

 house, they would, without doubt, inspect it within an hour: they would 

 come and look it over, and, if it suited, would take possession probably the 

 first year. (Two houses are better than one, as the Martins lik-e company.) 



Mr. Baynes stated that there were many good Martin-houses on the market, 

 but he had never been able to see that the birds showed any preference. They 

 would be as apt to locate in a simple homemade affair as in a more elaborate 

 one, and if the house were well located in the open, with the pole on which it 

 was mounted made cat-proof, I would, without doubt, have the pleasure of 

 seeing the house used and hearing the Martins' jolly music all summer. 



