338 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



This guest of Summer, 

 The temple-haunting martlet, does approve. 

 By his lov'd masonry, that heaven's breath 

 Smells wooingly here, . . . 

 Where they most breed and haunt, I have 



observed. 

 The air is delicate. 



Shakespeare, Macbeth. 



All the summer long the swallow is a 

 most instructive pattern of unwearied indus- 

 try and affection. . . . The swallow is a 

 delicate songster. 



Gilbert White, SelborJie, 1767, 

 Vol. II, p. 5. 



birds.-' The bird house for purple martins should be 

 placed on a pole some distance from trees and buildings, 



and the openings may be 

 three inches in diameter. 



The little chimney swift 

 and the night hawk are 

 birds of wonderful power 

 and usefulness in sweeping 

 the air clear of insect pests. 

 Both have applied for homes 

 in our cities and should be 

 most carefully protected. The night hawks nest on the 

 flat roofs of buildings, and the swifts in unused chimneys. 



The swifts nest in colonies 

 in the same chimneys and 

 are often killed in great 

 numbers by fires that are 

 built during cold weather in 

 early summer. Great care 

 should be exercised to avoid 

 this whenever possible. 



To one awakened at morn- 

 ing and cheered at evening 



If every bii'd has his vocation, as a poetical 

 Frencli writer sutrgests, that of the American 

 robin must be to inspire cheerfulness and 

 contentment in men. His joyous " Cheer 

 tip! Clieer up ! Cheery! Be cheery ! Be 

 cheery ! " poured out in llie early moming 

 from the top branch of the higliest tree in 

 the neighborhood, is one of tlie most stimu- 

 lating sounds of spring. 



Besides admonishing others to cheerful- 

 ness, the robin sets the example. Not only 

 is his cheering voice the first in the morning 

 and tlie last at night, — of the day birds, — 

 but no rain is wet enough to dampen his 

 sriirits. 



Olive Thorne Miller, /« 

 Nesting Time, p. 2. 



lit is often stated that purple martins are becoming rare, English spar- 

 rows being generally given as the cause. This is probably true in the main, 

 since the sparrows nest before the martins come north, and especially 

 because the sparrow nuisance has discouraged people from providing 

 martin houses. That the lack of suitable houses for martins may be at the 

 bottom of the difficulty is indicated by the fact that a martin house, erected 

 in Worcester, May i, became within three weeks the home of nine pairs 

 of these "rare" birds. Within limits of food supply, we can doubtless 

 have as many purple martins as we furnish with sparrow-free houses. 



