LAND BIRDS. 543 
entirely of insects, which usually are captured on the wing, although we have 
frequently seen them alighting on the tops of elms and other high trees 
where they were evidently picking small insects from the leaves. In one 
case (July, 1906), through a field glass it was easily seen that the leaves 
had been eaten by some larva, either caterpillar or beetle, which the birds 
evidently were eating, but we were not able to determine the kind. The 
Martin is often accused of eating honey bees and Wilson states that its 
food differs markedly from that of other swallows in that it consists largely 
of wasps, bees and large beetles. Being the largest of our swallows it very 
naturally eats larger insects than would a Barn Swallow or a Bank Swallow, 
but we know of no reason to suppose that it eats honey bees or other large 
hymenoptera. Professor Aughey states that in Nebraska it feeds on 
locusts at all stages of growth, and more generally than any other swallow. 
In its flight it probably excels all our swallows, if not all other species. 
We do not know that exact measurements of its speed have ever been made, 
but it often goes several miles from its nest for food and when returning 
directly it flies with amazing velocity. The Chimney Swift is credited 
with great speed, but in comparison with the Martin it is ridiculously slow. 
It is a common belief among country people that the Martin brings 
bed-bugs to its nesting places, and that in this way houses and barns become 
infested. The only foundation for this belief lies in the fact that a peculiar 
bug, belonging to the same family as the bed-bug, does infest Martins’ 
nests and is doubtless carried from place to place by the birds. This 
insect, however, is not the bed-bug and cannot live on other animals than 
swallows. There is therefore no danger whatever of its infesting dwelling 
houses. 
Although this species arrives from the south very early it does not 
ordinarily nest before the latter part of May or the first of June. Not 
infrequently the young in the earlier nests perish for lack of food during 
cold and rainy spells and in such cases second broods are often reared. The 
young are seen with the parents through July and remain about the nest- 
ing places until within a few days of their departure for the south. The 
nest consists of leaves (often of willow), grasses and similar soft materials, 
but not infrequently considerable mud is used as a foundation, or in some 
cases as a barricade about the opening to the nest. The eggs are three to 
five, pure white, unspotted, and average .97 by .72 inches. 
In Butler’s Birds of Indiana (1897, p. 991) the statement is made that 
the Purple Martin “migrates from tropical America both north and south, 
breeding in the Argentine Republic as naturally as it does with us.” This 
statement we know to be entirely incorrect. Possibly a few of our Purple 
Martins may cross the equator during the winter, but if so, they do not 
breed in the southern hemisphere. An allied species, Progne elegans, 
Baird, is found over a considerable part of southern South America, nesting 
in Argentina and Patagonia and moving northward toward the equator 
for the winter season, but this bird is distinct from our Purple Martin, 
although it resembles it somewhat closely. So far as we know it has not 
yet been proved that any species of American bird which nests in the 
United States ever passes south of the equator to nest, or even that any 
species of bird nests both in the north temperate and south temperate 
zones. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Largest of our swallows; wing nearly six inches; tail decidedly forked, the outer feathers 
half an inch or more longer than the middle ones. 
