225 
speed must have been 120 miles a night for every night of movement. 
To show how much can be learned from the study of the movements of 
wv single species in a single locality, the full record from Saint Louis is 
given. Mr. Widmann had a number of Martin houses set up in his 
back yard, and kept a full and accurate account of all the movements 
which took place there. His record reads : 
March 24, at 5.45 p. m., the first birds were seen, being three scouts; March 25, at 
4.45 p. m., the first of our Martins, one male; March 28, second male arrived ; March 
29, first transient seen passing; March 30, first female arrived and several tran- 
sients went north; March 31, an increase, ten per cent. were now present; April 3 
to 13 there was no increase in our colony; April 13 it increased to ten birds, the 
next day to sixteen, and April 16 it numbered eighteen (ten males and eight 
females). April 17 added ono male and one femaie; April 18 there were nine pairs 
and three odd males in the boxes; April 23 about a dozen refugees from the north 
crowded into the boxes at night, and among them was the first male of last year in a 
half-starved condition ; April 25 all the transient visitors were off again; our colony 
now numbered twenty-three birds; April 26, twenty-seven birds; April 27, twenty- 
eight birds; April 30, thirty birds. The bulk of the species arrived during these last 
five days. During the first week of May the numbers gradually increased to thirty- 
four birds. May 10 the last increase of old birds occurred, and now there were 
eighteen pairs that had taken quarters. May 11 the bulk of last year’s birds were 
present, but did not take possession of nor sleep in the boxes. -May 13 all old Mar- 
tins were building earnestly, and some have been sitting on eggs since about May 9; 
May 20 the first pair of young birds took possession of a box and began to build; 
May 18 first eggs hatched ; May 24 the second pair of young took a box, and June 
5 the third pair did likewise. 
In the fall of 1884 the last Parple Martin at Williamstown, Iowa, was 
seen August 19, and at Unadilla, Nebr., August 13. The bulk left Des 
Moines, Iowa, September 1, and the last seen was September11. None 
were seen at Mount Carmel, Mo., after August 18. 
In the spring of 1885 the Purple Martin did not remain long in its 
winter home, but returned to the United States early in February. It 
was seen at Houma, La., February 8, and at San Antonio, Tex., Feb- 
ruary 23. Those seen at Houma were probably irregular migrants, for 
no more were reported from the other stations in Louisiana until the 
last of the month. Those at San Antonio must have been part of the 
regular advance, since only two weeks later (March 6 and 7) Martins 
were reported from Bonham and Gainesville, Tex. During the month 
of March the Martins passed from latitude 30° to latitude 38°. The 
exact date of their movements can not be told, for in the year 1885 there 
was not a single observer in the country along the Mississippi River 
from New Orleans to Saint Louis. Here lies a vast area, 200,000 square 
miles in extent—larger than the whole United Kingdom of Great Brit- 
ain—and yet the most thorough and painstaking search failed to dis- 
cover one person sufficiently interested in the study of ornithology to 
make a record of the movements of birds! 
The Purple Martins were reported from Emporia, Kans., March 26; 
Corinth, Miss., March 28, anda straggler was seen the same day at 
Fayette, Mo. The grand wave of migration, the largest of the whole 
7365——Ball, 2——15 
