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OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



PURPLE MARTIN 



Have you ever seen martin-gourds swinging 

 by twos and fours from the top of a pole, in some 

 homelike nook where "bee-gums"- stand in the 

 corners of an old rail-fence among honeysuckles 

 and yellow Scotch roses? Pleasant company 

 they make for summer days, darting about over- 

 head with a loud rolling twitter, not even taking 



shelter from a shower 

 that drives all other 

 birds inside, taking 

 the rain on their long 

 strong wings in the 

 best of voice and spir- 

 its ; pleasant company, 

 worth all the gourds 

 and box-houses we can 

 put up for them. 

 They live by prefer- 

 ence in colonies, hence 

 a real martin-box 

 should be a double- 

 tenement affair or a small hotel, having several 

 compartments and entrances. It should be 

 mounted on a bare pole in an open space, never 

 in a tree; and should not be put up until the 

 time of the Martin's arrival from South America 

 in early April, — unless you wish the trouble of 



PURPLE MARTIN 



Length 7% inches 



