14 TPA EAU DUB ON Bie er 
April one wonders why they leave so early. With such an abundance 
of insect life in the air they might well remain two months longer. 
A burr oak twig, as a swatter, alone kept me from being devoured by 
mosquitoes. 
Belated starlings, bronzed grackles and robins could hardly get 
through the migrating horde of martins to their roost. Nighthawks 
did not cease to patrol for insects during the excitement. 
Aug. 23. Again I visited the glens and woods along the Des 
Plaines in Maywood. Hordes of starlings came into the old cotton- 
wood as usual. Gradually they dropped noisily to the roost in the 
hawthorns. 
At 7:30 again the air was alive with purple martins coming 
chiefly from the northwest. Their numbers were inestimable the 
previous evening but the population was even greater now. The sky 
was black with them. They gradually dropped flock by flock into 
the roost with the starlings. Little commotion occurred in perching 
and by 8 o’clock all was quiet. 
Aug. 24. A few martins were observed flying above the Forest 
Preserve at 7:20. In ten minutes there was a perceptible increase 
in numbers. By 7:40 large flocks were coming in but they remained 
circling high above the tree tops. The air became alive with them 
and they began to swoop into the thicket to roost. Most came from 
the west and northwest, conspicuous against a background of red 
and orange. 
By eight o’clock they had dropped again into the hawthorns and 
all was quiet. The next morning I visited the thicket. No dead birds 
were found but the place had the odor of a poorly ventilated hen 
house. 
Aug. 25. Cloudy and rainy. Soon after 7:00 flocks of martins 
began to arrive, coming from all directions. By 7:20 the air was 
literally alive with them. Like clouds of black locusts they circled 
about above the glens, oaks and hawthorns. Huge flocks quickly 
swooped down to their accustomed perches. By 7:30 not a bird was 
left in the air. 
We stood on a picnic table watching the individuals select suit- 
able protection for a wet night. Soon the gentle twittering ceased. 
The robins were the last to leave the glen. Several nighthawks 
quietly patrolled the air. The strident notes of the starlings were 
heard in the thicket as the martins joined the roost. The starlings 
had retired before we arrived that evening. This was noticeably the 
largest martin population during the week. I estimated there were 
at least two million. 
Aug. 26. I found the birds (martins) arriving in large flocks 
soon after seven and settling at once in the roost. Several loud 
whistles on the Northwestern brought up the myriads again. Frank 
Chapman once told the late Mrs. Charles Raymond of Hinsdale he 
measured black skimmers by the acre in Florida waters. Imagine 
25-30 acres with a dense martin population 100 feet high and you get 
some idea of their numbers. These flocks seemed to keep their iden- 
