154 
PURPLE MARTIN. 
roof, or sign-post, in the box appropriated to the Blue Bird ; 
or, if all these be wanting, in the dove-house among the 
Pigeons. In this last case, he sometimes takes possession of 
one quarter, or tier, of the premises, in which not a Pigeon 
dare for a moment set its foot. Some people have large con- 
veniencies formed for the Martins, with many apartments, 
which are usually full tenanted, and occupied regularly every 
spring ; and, in such places, particular individuals have been 
noted to return to the same box for several successive years. 
Even the solitary Indian seems to have a particular respect 
for this bird. The Chactaws and Chickasaws cut off all the 
top branches from a sapling near their cabins, leaving the 
prongs a foot or two in length, on each of which they hang a 
gourd, or calabash, properly hollowed out for their convenience. 
On the banks of the Mississippi, the negroes stick up long 
canes, with the same species of apartment fixed to their tops, 
in which the Martins regularly breed. Wherever I have 
travelled in this country, I have seen with pleasure the 
hospitality of the inhabitants to this favourite bird. 
As superseding the necessity of many of my own observa- 
tions on this species, I beg leave to introduce in this place an 
extract of a letter from the late learned and venerable John 
Joseph Henry, Esq. judge of the supreme court of Pennsyl- 
vania, a man of most amiable manners, which was written to 
me but a few months before his death, and with which I am 
happy to honour my performance : — 46 The history of the 
Purple Martin of America,” says he, 44 which is indigenous in 
Pennsylvania, and countries very far north of our latitude, 
will, under your control, become extremely interesting. 
We know its manners, habitudes, and useful qualities here; 
but we are not generally acquainted with some traits in its 
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, 
