these birds, all of which appeared
to be inhabited. Examination of another building less than seventy
feet away added thirty-seven occupied nests to the list.

The nesting site of the Purple Martin has likewise been changed in a
most radical fashion. Originally these birds built their nests of
leaves, feathers, and grass, in hollow trees. Here no doubt they were
often disturbed by weasels, squirrels, snakes, and {137} other
consumers of birds and their eggs. Some of the southern Indians hung
gourds up on poles and the Martins learned to build their nests in
them. This custom is still in vogue in the South, and thousands of
Martin houses throughout the country are erected every year for the
accommodation of these interesting birds. By their cheerful
twitterings and their vigilance in driving from the neighbourhood every
Hawk and Crow that ventures near, they not only repay the slight effort
made in their behalf, but endear themselves to the thrifty
chicken-raising farm-wives of the country.

If gourds or boxes cannot be found Martins will sometimes build about
the eaves of buildings or similar places. They have learned that it is
wise to nest near human habitations. At Plant City, Florida, one may
find their nests in the large electric arc-lights swinging in the
streets, and at Clearwater, Florida, and in Bismarck, North Dakota,
colonies nest under the projecting roofs of store buildings.

I have always been interested in finding nests of {138} birds, but I
think no success in this line ever pleased me quite so much as the
discovery of two pairs of Purple Martins making their nests one day in
May, down on the edge of the Everglade country in south Florida. There
were no bird boxes or gourds for at least twenty or thirty miles
around, so the birds had appropriated some old Flicker nesting cavities
in dead trees, that is, one pair of the birds had appropriated a
disused hole, and the second pair was busy trying to carry nesting
material into a Flicker's nest from which the young birds had not yet
departed. Here then were Martins preparing to carry on their domestic
duties just as they did back in the old primeval days.

The discussion of this subject could not well be closed without
mentioning the Chimney Swift that now almost universally glues to the
inner side of a chimney, or more rarely the inner wall of some
building, the few little twigs that constitute its nest. It is only in
the remotest parts of th