234 FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 


By this time I began to mistrust that the Black Martin 
would not build a nest for itself so long as it can find one 
ready-made. I believe that is just why they always came 
the second time, about when they expected to find a finished 
nest. It seemed just so to me. Of course the material 
composing a Swallow’s, Bluebird’s, or Wren’s. nest would 
not be sufficient for a Martin’s nest, but it would go some 
way in building -it. Maybe I suspect them unjustly. But 
I was determined to have some Martins, if it took all sum- 
mer, so I built a large house expressly for them on the roof 
of my poultry-house. It contains thirty-two rooms about 
eight by ten inches, three stories high, twelve inches to 
ceiling in each story. While we were building the same 
Martins flew around us, inspecting the work, and frequently 
came so near that we might have caught them. The finish- 
ing and painting took so long that they finally left before 
the job was completed, as none of them took up their abode 
with us, but often during the summer they would circle 
about for hours, frequently flying in and out, and after a 
social chat fly away to their eaves and cornices about town, 
where they were forced by the lateness of the season to 
make their nests. When they return this spring I can 
accommodate forty to fifty pairs, and when the rooms are 
all taken I will build more for them. In a few days I shall 
furnish each room with a few handfulls of soft hay made to 
imitate nests, to attract them. Their beautiful blue-black 
and glossy plumage, together with their almost clamorous 
sociability, causes me in a very great measure to forget that 
they may be a little inclined to aristocracy, so far as labor is 
concerned. Let them all come; they shall find food and 
protection. The Sparrows may feed with the Oochins, 
Brahmas, Plymouth Rocks, and the rest of their giant 
friends, undisturbed. -The motherly Robin will always find 
plenty of strawberries early in the summer for her young, 
and. lots of all the other luscious fruits all through the 
season. 
I remembered the birds when I planted my trees and 
vines, years ago, and somehow we are cheered all summer 
long by the different birds of our country, and do not miss 
what little they eat. Talk about their stealing fruit. They 
do not steal it; God gave it to them. I never planted a bed 
of flowers but that I was amply repaid for the trouble and 
expense by seeing the scores of little Humming Birds flock- 
ing there to feed, to say nothing of the pleasure we all 
derived from their beauty and fragrance. 
But pardon this my first trial of your patience. In the 
future, if agreeable, I may drop you an occasional line on 
not only birds, but all the other pets, in rotation. 
Yours truly, ¢ J.H. WarTLine. 

The first shad taken this year in the Delaware was 
near Chester, and sold for five dollars. 
§@s> The introduction of salmon into the rivers of Aus- 
tralia, after repeated failures, has been accomplished at last. 
p@s> There is a severe drought in most of the jurisdictions 
of Cuba, and the animals are suffering for water. 
ges John Henry, of South Hadley Falls, accidentally 
shot himself in the head while hunting ducks, on Sunday, 
and expired soon after. 
ga@s> A boy was caught stealing chestnuts near a ceme- 
tery. ‘ What’s your name?’’ ‘Tweed,’ blubbered the 
boy. The frightened farmer dropped the boy and fled. - 


¥ 
pas Mr. Samuel Maxwell, of Vanceboro’ Maine, killed 
two bears and captured another alive, one day last week in 
that town, and within two miles of the settlement. 
ge@> Christian Sharpe, inventor of the Sharpe rifle, the 
best firearm of its day and still has no superior, died sud- 
denly in Vernon, Conn., on Thursday night, aged 63. 
p@s~ Two malevolent dogs ate up $200 worth of mutton 
for John Farnum, at Lanesboro, R. I., last week, in just 
half an hour; to be exact, they killed 35 sheep,.and wound- 
ed half a dozen more. 
pas A boy named James Wright was accidentally killed 
at Seabrook, in a gunning float, recently, by J. Rowe. 
Wright was sculling the float, and Rowe’s gunlock caught 
on a seat as he raised the weapon, and both barrels were 
discharged in the back of Wright’s head. 
peg> A young man was carrying a goose at a dinner table 
one day, when, by an awkward move, he knocked it into 
the lap of a lady who was sitting opposite, in the glory of a 
green satin dress. Instead of showing his verdancy by pro- 
fuse apologies and a confused manner, he simply said ; “ I’ll 
trouble you for that goose, Miss!’’ Can the annals of society 
furnish an example of self-possession more sublime? 

eo 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
THE BUCKS COUNTY POULTRY ASSOCIATION. 
At the last meeting of the executive committee it was 
decided that the next annual exhibition should be held on 
the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th of December, 1874. Already 
we have the most promising indications that our next fair 
will be the largest ever held in the State. The president 
has named a committee to obtain special premiums. We 
intend to make the specials.one of our grand points. The 
North Pennsylvania Railroad which terminates at Doyles- 
town, will issue excursion tickets from Philadelphia and 
other points. Bucks county is fairly awake on the poultry 
question. At the next exhibition the members of the asso- 
ciation living in the county will exhibit fine specimens of 
the following breeds of fowl: Silver Pencilled, Silver Span- 
gled, Golden Spangled, and Black Hamburgs; White, 
Brown, Black, and Dominique Leghorns; Black Breasted 
Red, Duckwing, Irish Grey, and Earl Derby Games; Crev- 
ecours, Houdans, and Japan Silkies; Light and Dark Brah- 
mas; Buff and Partridge Cochins; Plymouth Rocks and 
Dominiques; Golden Sebright, Black Red Game, Duck- 
wing Game, Black African; and Japan Bantams. 
All the breeds above named, are bred by members of the 
Association from the best stock procurable, so you see, Mr. 
Editor, we will have something to show visitors at our néxt 
fair. Respectfully, 
W. T. Rogers. 
DoyLEstTown, Pa. ; “ 
+ ae 
POULTRY SHOWS FOR 1874 & 1875, 
Bucks Co. Poultry Association. 
ber 8, 9, 10, and 11. 
town, Pa. 
Maine Poultry Association. Portland, January 12, 18, 14, 
and 15. Fred. Fox, Secretary, Portland, Maine. 
Connecticut State Poultry Society. Hartford, Conn., De- 
cember 16, 17, 18, and 19. Dr. Geo. L. Parmele, Sec’y. 

Doylestown, Pa., Decem- 
Theo P. Harvey, Secretary, Doyles- 

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