104 THE canadia:n naturalist. 
descend like an avalanche into the river. Sometimes^ the 
side of a hill will slide^ after a heavy and continued rain^, 
in the summer months^ and do great damage. 
C. — What can be the intention of those little houses 
stuck on poles ? 
F, — Have you not seen them before ? they are common 
enough in this country, though we have none in our imme- 
diate neighbourhood. They are put there solely for the ac- 
commodation of the Purple Martin, a still greater favourite 
than the Barn Swallow. The Purple Martin ( Hirundo 
Purpurea J is the largest of all our swallows ; his colour is 
nearly uniform, a deep glossy purple ; he generally arrives 
about the same time with the barn swallow^ though I have 
not seen,, or at least observed, any before those I now see 
flying about their little painted houses. As soon as they 
come^ they find lodgings ready prepared; for very many of 
our farmers, as well as those in the neighbouring States, have 
taken the trouble to provide boxes for the martin : some 
erect them on poles, as in this instance ; others fasten them 
on the very peak or corner of the roof of their dwelling- 
house. The making of the box in the form of a house, with 
holes in the shape of doors and windows, with the roof painted 
red, and the sides white, is the taste of the provider, but it 
is a pretty general one. In the southern States, I have seen 
gourds hung on the cut branches of a young tree, near the 
planters' houses ; a mode which Wilson mentions as practised 
by the Indians : and as far as I could see, the martins were 
as well satisfied with this homely abode, as with the painted 
and shapely houses of the North. I believe the providing of 
a house for the martin is confined to the American inhabit- 
ants : I have never seen one erected by an English emigrant. 
C. — I suppose the reason of their being petted is the 
service they render in destroying flies. 
F, — Like all the tribe, the purple martin feeds exclu- 
