The Western Martin 



numbered thirty pairs. Likewise the birds, a dozen of them now, which 

 haunt the ample cornices of the new Federal Building in Santa Barbara, 

 are a source of never-ending delight to the public. 



The nest is not often occupied till June, when the birds may be most 

 certain of finding food for their offspring; and the rearing of a single 

 brood is a season's work. Five eggs is almost invariably the number 

 laid ; and they are of a pure white color, the shell being very little glossed 

 and of a coarser grain than is the case with eggs of the other swallows. 



Martins are very sociable birds, and a voluble flow of small talk 

 is kept up by them during the nesting season. The song, if such it may 

 be called, is a succession of pleasant warblings and gurglings, interspersed 

 with harsh rubbing and creaking notes. A particularly mellow coo, coo, 

 coo occurs from time to time, and any of the notes seem to require con- 

 siderable effort on the part of the performer. 



Our information regarding the Western Martin is, truth to tell, 

 still quite inadequate. In dealing with any western analogue of a species 

 so well known in the East as is the Purple Martin, we are under constant 

 temptation to transfer impressions or to neglect opportunities for local 

 study. Thus, it may be presumed that the Western Martin is somewhat 

 pugnacious, that it defends the colony courageously by driving predatory 

 birds out of bounds, that it contends with bluebirds and wrens and 

 woodpeckers and other swallows for possession of nesting holes; but of 

 all this the notes are silent, and there is never a line in print. 



Just for honesty's sake, the author will share with his readers ver- 

 batim et literatim the only field notes entered in his files for a period 

 of five years: 

 Western Martin. San Luis Obispo County, April 5, IQ12. 



Half a dozen pairs of them hanging about the top of a giant oak 

 back in the hills on the Sacramento Ranch. The upper limbs were 

 perforated with holes, and there was much voluble discussion of nest- 

 building to be heard. An idyllic spot and a grateful revelation of the 

 primitive taste of this all too sophisticated bird. 



Lassen County, June 4, IQ12. 



A pair of these blessed birds have made their home in a hollow limb 

 of a great pine tree standing in the middle of the road overlooking Honey 

 Lake, and their amiable gurglings and twitterings are a comfort to the 

 wayfarer. 



Shandon Country, Valley of the San Juan, April 17, 1914. 



Cooka picka pooka pooka coo, gurgles a Western Martin as he passes 

 up-stream in the eye of a beautiful morning. What a happy, amiable 

 body he is, the Martin! And how much more in keeping with a blithe 

 spirit is this noble wilderness than are the sordid haunts of men! 



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