SOME OHIO BIRDS 
29 
causes it to be overlooked. While it is one of our common birds, its 
occurrence is local and irregular. It is sociable to a high degree, 
moving about in small flocks, every movement being executed as by 
a common impulse. At all seasons it is more or less gregarious; 
when alighting in a tree, a flock never scatters, and when roostingthe 
same is true. It never associates with other species. 
Because of its fondness for cherries, it is known as the Cherry- 
bird. Only 13 percent of cultivated fruit is eaten, and such fruits 
as raspberries and blackberries are taken partly from the wild 
bushes. However, this injury to fruit is offset by the consumption 
of 13 percent of animal matter, consisting of canker worms, beetles 
and plant lice. The remainder is made up of wild fruit and seeds. 
As a destroyer of canker worms alone, the Cedar Waxwing is too 
valuable a bird for the fruit grower to destroy. Protect the cherries 
by planting mulberries, which they greatly prefer, about the orchard 
and grounds, rather than shoot this beneficial species. 
SWALLOWS 
The return of the Swallows to their summer home is accom¬ 
plished with almost the same regularity as is the changing of the 
seasons. Weather conditions, alone, can influence their movements 
and their arrival marks the end of winter’s reign. Most aerial of 
our birds, this group fills an important place in nature; through 
their agency the air is rid of vast numbers of insects detrimental 
alike to the health of man and beast, as well as of some that are 
destructive to crops. 
Their association with man had its beginning before the advent 
of the white man on this continent. The Indian attracted the 
Purple Martin by hanging up gourds in which these birds nested. 
When the log cabins of the white settler replaced the tepees of the 
red man, the Swallows nested in or about the rude log barns or in 
boxes erected for the purpose. 
PURPLE MARTIN, Progne subis subts (Linn.) 
Because of persecution by the House Sparrow, this species is 
gradually decreasing in numbers. Not only is it a delight to the 
person of aesthetic temperament, but it appeals to the most utilitarian 
because of its destruction of noxious insects, and the loss of this 
species would be sorely felt. While the great majority of Martins 
nest in houses erected for the purpose about dwellings, some still 
nest in cavities of dead trees in the wild. 
The food of this species is composed entirely of insects which it 
takes on the wing—Rose beetles, May beetles, cucumber beetles, 
house and other flies, and many other equally troublesome insects. 
