156 PURPLE MARTIN. 



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, I recollect that the martin is named 

 as an inhabitant of the regions of Southern America, parti- 

 cularly 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 Tierra del 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 the 

 order of birds of passage. Nature has furnished it with a 

 long, strong, and nervous pinion ; its legs are short, too, so 

 as 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. Belk- 

 nap speaks of it as a visitant of New Hampshire. I have 

 seen it in great numbers at Quebec. Hearne speaks of it in 

 lat. sixty degrees north. To ascertain 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 removed from Lancaster to a 

 farm a few miles above Harrisburg. Knowing the benefit 

 derivable to a farmer from the neighbourhood of the martin, 

 in preventing the depredations of the bald eagle, the hawks, 

 and even the crows, my carpenter was employed to form a 

 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 shrub- 

 bery, — a very fit haunt for the feathered race. About the 

 middle of February, the blue birds came ; in a short time 



