THE SWALLOWS 89 



other, even when they are close at hand. Both twitter 

 merrily but neither really sings. 



More than any other bird family, and more rapidly, the 

 swallows are becoming dependent for shelter upon man. 



The Purple Martin 



Length — 7 to 8 inches. Two or three inches shorter than 

 the robin. 



Male — ^Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflec- 

 tions; duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather 

 longer than the tail, which is forked. 



Female — ^More brownish and mottled; grayish below. 



Range — ^Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic 

 Circle to South America. 



Migrations — ^Late April. Early September. Summer 

 resident. 



There is a picturesque old inn beside a post road in New 

 Jersey with a five-storied martin house set up on a pole 

 above its quaint swinging sign. For more than thirty years 

 a record was kept on the pole showing the dates of the 

 coming and going of the martins in April and September, 

 which did not vary by more than two or three days during 

 all that time. The inn-keeper locked up in his safe every 

 night the registers on which were entered the arrivals and 

 departures of his human guests, but he valued far more the 

 record of his bird visitors which interested everybody who 

 stopped at his inn. 



One day, while he was away, a man who was painting a 

 fence for him thought he would siu-prise him by freshening 



