ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
5ir 
cites it as a rare summer i-esident in Northeastern Illinois. It is quite similar in 
habits to the last species, in company with wliich it sometimes nests. It is said 
to enter towns occasionally, and to build its nest under the eaves and in holes in 
old walls. 
Food; The single specimen examined had eaten only small beetles. 
66. PnoGNE suBis (Linn.), Bd. PURPLE MARTIN. Group 11. Class a. 
This species, so common, familiar, and confiding, is quite as general a favor¬ 
ite as any bird we have; how justly, however, recorded facts, so far as I know 
them, do not warrant an assertion. Apiarists enter severe complaints against 
it, and with some justice, as my own notes indicate. But its injuries are not 
confined to the destruction of bees. Dragon-flies, tiger-beetles, and predaceous 
wasps and flies are destroyed by it, apparently in large numbers. These in¬ 
sects are, presumably, as beneficial, so far as the character of their food is con¬ 
cerned, as any purely insectivorous bird can be. 
Let us suppose that, during the first one hundred days of the Martin’s stay 
w'ith us, it destroys on an avemge, besides noxious insects, three insects per 
day, each as beneficial as a tiger-beetle. The entire destruction, during the 
time, would be three hundred individuals. Allowing each insect to lead an aver¬ 
age active life of thirty days, and to destroy insects at the rate of three per day, 
27,000 insects would represent the aggregate destructiveness of the three hun¬ 
dred individuals. It would, therefore, be necessary for the Martin to consume 
noxious insects at the rate of two hundred and seven per day for one hundred 
and thirty days, to recompense the services of these insects. 
It is Dr. Brewer’s opinion that the Martin is, on the whole, very beneficial, 
and were it only destructive to bees, there could be no doubt that his views are 
correct. As it is, the few definite facts which we have must be held until many 
more can be placed with them before final conclusions can be reached. It should 
be said that the destructiveness of this species to bees is not confined to those 
birds which chance to breed near the hives. The four young birds from which 
the following notes were obtained were bred in a martin-house which stood fully 
two miles from any hive, and there was no extensive apiary in the neighbor¬ 
hood. 
Food; In the stomachs of four young birds about eight days old were found 
respectively, (a) two butterflies (Colias philodice, and a skipper), six honey¬ 
bees and many bits of shells of small mollusks; (b) two large dragon-flies, a 
large bee-fly, two honey-bees and bits of shells of small mollusks; (c) one large 
dragon-fly, three honey-bees, and fragments of the shells of small mollusks; 
(d) two medium-sized dragon-flies, one honey-bee, and small pieces of shells. 
Another young bird, which had recently left the nest and was being fed by its 
parents, had in its stomach the remains of seven tiger-beetles f Cicindela vzdgarisj, 
with a few minute fragments of insects. As an offset to the above, Packard 
states; “When a storm prostrated a martin-box, one of its compartments was 
found literally packed with the dried remains of the little yellow and black 
squash beetle.” 
Large beetles — among them the Goldsmith beetle,— wasps and bees (Wilson). 
Various winged insects, as wasps, bees, and large beetles (De Kay). Large 
numbers of bees (I. L. Hersey, Am. Nat., Vol. VII, p. 434). The larger kinds 
of insects, especially beetles (Brewer). 
