PURLLE MARTIN. 367 
noted to return to the same box for several suevessive years, Even 
the solitary Indian seems to have a purticular respect for this bird. 
The Chactaws and Chickasaws cut offall the top branches from a sap- 
ling near their cabins, leaving the prongs a foot or two in length, on 
each of which they hang a gourd, or calabash, properly hollowed out 
for their convenience. On the banks of the Mississippi, the negroes 
stick up long cancs, with the same species of apartment fixed to their 
tops, in which the Martins regularly breed. Wherever J have tray- 
elled in this country, I have seen with pleasure the hospitality of the 
inhabitants to this favorite bird. 
As superseding the necessity of many of my own observations 
on this species, I beg leave to introduce in this place an extract 
of a letter from the late learned an? ~~~ ~-..: sun Joseph Henry, 
Esq. judge of the supreme court of seunsylvania, a man of most 
amiable manners, which was written to me but a few months before 
his death, and with which I am happy to honor my performance :— 
“The history of the Purple Martin of America,” says he, “which is 
indigenous in Pennsylvania, and countries very far north of our lati- 
tude, will, under your control, become extremely interesting. We 
know its manners, habitudes, and useful qualities here; but we are 
not generally acquainted with some traits in its character, which, in 
my mind, rank it in the class of the most remarkable birds of passage. 
Somewhere (I cannot now refer to book and page) in Anson’s Voyage, 
or in Dampier, or some other southern voyager, | recollect that the 
Martin is named as an inhabitant of the regions of southern America, 
particularly of Chili; and, in consequence, from the knowledge we 
have of its immense emigration northward in our own country, we may 
fairly presume that its flight extends to the south as far as Terra de! 
Fuego. If the conjecture be well founded, we may, with some 
certainty, place this useful and delightful companion and friend of 
the human race as the first in order of birds of passage. Nature 
has furnished it with a long, strong, and nervous pinion; its legs are 
short, too, so 2s not to impede its passage; the head and body are 
flattish ; in short, it has every indication from bodily formation, that 
Providence intended it as a bird of the longest flight. Belknap speaks 
of it asa visitant of New Hampshire. I have seen it in great numbers 
at Quebec. Hearne speaks of it in lat. 60 degrees north. To ascer- 
tain the times of the coming of the Martin to New Orleans, and its 
migration to and from Mexico, Quito, and Chili, are desirable data in 
the history of this bird; but it is probable that the state of science in 
those countries renders this wish hopeless. 
“Relative to the domestic history, if it may be so called, of the Blue 
Bird (of which you have given so correct and charming a description) 
and the Martin, permit me to give you an anecdote:—-In 1800 I re- 
moved from Lancaster to a farm a few miles above Harrisburgh 
Knowing the benefit derivable to a farmer from the neighborhood of 
the Martin, in preventing the depredations of the Bald Eagle, the 
Hawks, and even the Crows, my carpenter was employed to form 2 
large box, with a number of apartments for the Martin. The box was 
put up in the autumn. Near and around the house were a number 
of well-grown apple-trees and much shrubbery,—a very fit haunt 
for the feathered race. About the middle of February, the Blue Birds 
