PURPLE MARTIN. 393 
In the Middle States, from the 15th to the 2oth of April, 
the Martins begin to prepare their nest, which is usually made 
of small green or dry leaves, straws, hay, and feathers, laid in 
considerable quantities. They rear two broods in the season. 
Several pairs also dwell harmoniously in the same box. The 
male, very attentive to his sitting mate, also takes part in the 
task of incubation ; and his notes at this time have apparently 
a peculiar and expressive tenderness. 
The food of the Martin is usually the larger winged insects, 
as wasps, bees, large beetles, such as the common Ceéondas, or 
goldsmiths, which are swallowed whole. His flight possesses 
all the swiftness, ease, and grace of the tribe. Like the Swift, 
he glides along, as it were, without exertion. Sometimes he is 
seen passing through the crowded streets, eluding the passen- 
gers with the rapidity of thought; at others he sails among 
the clouds at a dizzy height like something almost ethereal. 
The Purple Martin occurs throughout the Maritime Provinces, 
though nowhere common, and is extremely local in its distribution. 
It is rather rare near Quebec, but common at Montreal and 
throughout Ontario. Observers in Winnipeg consider the bird 
abundant there, and it is said to range north to the Saskatchewan 
valley. 
Small colonies of these Martins are found scattered through 
New England at widely separated localities, accepting, usually, the 
proffered hospitality of friendly villagers who provide them with 
homes, though an occasional coterie may be found nesting in the 
primitive manner of their ancestors,—rearing their broods in 
natural cavities of trees or in crevices of rocks, as was the custom 
of their race before the European led them into more Sybaritic 
habits. 
