47 



Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



The undersigned spent a week and a half of his vacation 

 period in late June and early July in the vicinity of Middletown, 

 Conn., tutoring two bird students in field ornithology. The work 

 afforded opportunity for observing the bird life of the region and 

 noting the nesting of many species. 



Seventy-five different kinds of birds were recorded alto- 

 gether— the majority of these being breeding birds. Out of this 

 number it was interesting to note that there were only about a 

 dozen species which may not be found breeding on Staten Island ; 

 while in the home territory we have several summer residents 

 which were seemingly absent from the Connecticut district 

 covered. 



There was nothing which would strike one as being sensa- 

 tional or rare among the species observed ; but the character of 

 the country — rolling farmlands, streams, woodland and fresh 

 water marshes— made for a rich population of our better known 

 land birds of the east. It was pre-eminently a country of phoebes, 

 barn-swallows and robins. 



H. H.c. 



There seem to be no breeding records of the purple martin 

 (Progne s. subis Linn.) or "blue martin" — our largest member of 

 the swallow tribe— for Staten Island, notwithstanding that the 

 birds, at least in recent years, have been noted in both migrations, 

 particularly during the southward flight in August and Sep- 

 tember. This may be accounted for by the fact that the birds nest 

 solely in artifical devices, especially constructed for their needs, 

 and until very recently no such nesting boxes have apparently 

 been put up on the Island. About a year and a half ago, however, 

 Mr. C. M. Shipman placed a well-constructed martin box in an 

 area north of his home on Shore Road, Rossville ; within the past 

 year Mr. Elmer Butler has erected a pole with a large martin 

 house on his estate at Richmond Valley ; and on July 9, 1916, the 

 writer put up a 16-room house in the centre of the courtyard of 

 the dairy farm of Mr. E. T. Tillinghast at Princes Bay. Purple 

 martins have been noted more frequently about this farm during 

 the past four or five years than at any other point on Staten 

 Island. 



Martins are common in the Gulf and South Atlantic states, 

 but the birds breed irregularly in the north, where they seem more 

 particular as to the lines on which their houses are constructed. 

 However, there are well established colonies in adjacent parts of 

 New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, and there is no serious 

 reason to think that within three or iour years we may not induce 

 a few migrant pairs to establish themselves on Staten Island. 



H. H. c. 



