PURPLE MARTIN. 
35 
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. Belknap speaks of it as a visitant of New Hamp- 
shire. I have seen it in great numbers at Quebec. 
Hearne speaks of it in lat. 60 0 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 pro- 
bable that the state of science in those countries renders 
this wish hopeless. 
“ Relative to the domestic historjr, if it may be so 
called, of the bluebird and the martin, permit me to 
give you an anecdote : In 1800 I removed from Lan- 
caster to a farm a few miles above Harrisburgh. Know- 
ing the benefit derivable to a farmer from the neigh- 
bourhood 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 
shrubbery, a very fit haunt for the feathered race. 
About the middle of February, the bluebirds came; in 
a short time they were very familiar, and took posses- 
sion of the box : these consisted of two or three pairs. 
By the 15th of May, the bluebirds had eggs, if not 
young. Now the martins arrived in numbers, visited 
the box, and a severe conflict ensued. The bluebirds, 
seemingly animated by their right of possession, or for 
the protection of their young, were victorious. The 
martins regularly arrived about the middle of May, for 
the eight following years, examined the apartments of 
the box, in the absence of the bluebirds, but were 
uniformly compelled to fly upon the return of the 
latter. 
<c The trouble caused you by reading this note you 
will be pleased to charge to the martin. A box replete 
with that beautiful traveller, is not very distant from 
