25 
The Greeks celebrated the swallows in poetry and song as early as the 
daw T n of authentic history. We cannot afford to let these long, deep 
lines of poetry, sentiment and human good fail from our lives. I have 
heard complaints that our barn swallow's are becoming scarce, as 
though it were due to some inevitable change in natural conditions. 
Look at our barns and the whole matter is explained. Provide homes , 
whereVer tHis has been neglected, and This guesl of Summer 
they Will soon be numerous again. It The a pp 1 r , J ) P 1 e e ' hauntiug raartlet - does 
was indeed a pathetic thing to see, as I By {jj-lath d masonry ’ that heaven ’ s 
did recently, a fine colony of barn swal¬ 
low's flying round and round a large barn, 
examining every knot, clinging about the 
too well-glazed wfindows, unable to find 
an entrance. Farmers should realize the 
gallons of stock blood, and human as 
Smells wooingly here. 
Where they most breed and haunt, I 
have observ’d 
The air is delicate. 
— Shakespeare , Macbeth. 
All the summer long the swallow is 
a most instructive pattern of unwearied 
industry and affection. . . The 
swallow is a delicate songster.— Gil¬ 
bert White , Set borne, 1767, p. 5, Vol. II. 
w T ell, and the hot days of pestiferous suffering and annoyance from 
flies, gnats and mosquitoes which a beautiful colony of swallows 
w'ould save. 
The purple martin has been practically driven from our towns and 
cities by the English sparrows. It should be considered no mean 
public service to keep a suitable house clear of sparrows for these 
beautiful birds; and it gives me rare pleasure to acknowledge my own 
debt in this matter to Mr. Loring Coes, of Worcester, who has, by 
dint of shooting several houses to pieces, retained a fine colony w’ithin 
the limits of our city. The bird house for purple martins should be 
placed on a pole some distance from trees and buildings, and the open¬ 
ings may be three inches in diameter. 1 
The little chimney swift and the night hawk are birds of wonder¬ 
ful power and usefulness in sweeping the air clear of insect pests. 
Both have applied for homes in our cities and should be most carefully 
1 It is often stated that purple martins are becoming rare, English sparrows 
being generally given as the cause. This is probably true in the main, since 
the sparrows nest before the martins come north, and especially because the 
sparrow nuisance has discouraged people from providing martin houses. That 
suitable houses for martins may be, however, at the bottom of the difficulty is 
indicated by the fact that a martin house, erected in Worcester, May 1, became 
within three weeks the home of seven pair of these “rare” birds. Within 
limits of food supply, we can doubtless have as many purple martins as we 
furnish with sparrow-free houses. 
