The Purple Martin at Wichita, Kansas 



85 



Then began a relentless warfare against this persistent and pugnacious 

 creature. So fiercely were they persecuted, to make way for better birds, that 

 if a Sparrow saw a member of my family stoop to the ground, he would 'dig 

 out.' 



But the nesting season passed without Martins. 



During May I discovered that a pair of Sparrows had built a nest in one of 

 the rooms, the female having peculiar markings. Five eggs were destroyed 

 from this nest, and in a few days another nest was begun on the other side. 

 The process of destruction alternated from time to time until the close of 

 August, when it was found that fifty fresh eggs had been destroyed. And I 

 verily believe that they were all laid by the same female. 



The warfare will be reopened next month, when the obstructions are taken 

 from the openings. One scheme employed last year was to put tappers in two 

 small milk-cans and adjust the cans as cow-bells out of sight under the house, 

 with strong string or wire running thence to the pantry window. A jerk of this 

 string always emptied the house of Sparrows. 



During last autumn large numbers of migrating Bluebirds stopped and 

 investigated the accommodations of this hotel, supposedly with a view to 

 future engagements; but I shall take care of them with another bird-house. 



Another Martin-house of moderate size will be put up this spring on the 

 present office building, which has an inaccessible roof 134 feet above the 

 ground; and I am almost certain of a colony there, even though the trial at 

 Fairmount may still be unsuccessful. 





EVENING GROSBEAKS AT PITTSFIELD, MASS. 

 Photographed by Mrs. W. F. Barrows 



