Notes from Field and Study
Mrs. William C. Horton, of Brattleboro, Vermont, writes: “The attractive colony of Purple Martins, occupying the bird-house belonging to William C. Horton, of Brat- tleboro, Vermont, met with fatal disaster during the long rain in June. The colony of about thirty birds came to the house as usual in April. It was known from ap» pearances in June that the birds were incu- bating and breeding June 23 Mr. Horton observed tllat there were no Martins flying about, and climbing to the liird~house to ascertain the cause, found the dead bodies of thirty little birds, twelve unhatched eggs and one pair of adult birds dead on the same nest, covering follr decomposing little The nests, usually so warm and dry, were completely water-soaked.
"About ten days afterthc house had been cleansed one pair of birds returned and flew many times about the house, almost daring to enter, and yet apparently fearful to do so, at the same time uttering cries. Presently one alighted momentarily on one of the spires and said sonlethingto his mate, when both flew away, Occasionally, since that time, one or two pairs have returned to fly about, but not to enter the house.
"This bird-house has been the home of the Martins every summer for twenty-five years, and this is the first disaster that has befallen the colony.
"On the same grounds a Black and White Warbler brought her young from the grove where she had nested, When first observed, the little ones could fly quite well. but as the day advanced, and the rain and chill increased, the little ones grew weakert One curled itself up exhausted and was taken into the house for the night, but in the morning it was dead, and all the voices
ones.
of the other little ones left outside were silent. The parent Warblers are evidently building another nest, as they are carrying nesting materials among the shrubbery.
“The Song and Chipping Sparrows, Wood Thrush, Robin, Downy Wood~ pecker, Catliird, Wood Pewee and a family of Tree Swallows in a box under the roof of our house were all stlccessftll in bringing their families out safely, and we are visited hourly by many of these friends.”
165
Mr. J. Warren Jacobs, of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. reports as follows concerning his Martin colonies, in which, through Mr. )acobs‘ studies,* so many bird»lovers have become interested:
“Only one brood of Martins colnnies escaped death as a result oia three- day's cold wet spell ending June 15. Ten broods in house No. 2 and eleven or twelve in house No. 3 succumbed. On this date all nests in house No. 4 contained eggs.
'* From house No. 2 I took forly young and one old dead bird. Under this old bird were five young, four at which were i still alive, but cold and almost still. I put these in a cloth and warmed them and they were soon able to move about and make a noise. We fed theul thus, a few butterflies and a small number of angleworms (the latter for convenience, as butterflies were scarce). The first night the weakest one died, one died during lhe day and on the second night the last two died
"This made a total of fortysfive young and one old bird from box No 2. In No. 3 I found thirty-nine young and two old birds dead. From a room in this box came the faint squeak of young which survived. This is all that lived over this unfortunate period.
“The number of nests containing eggs on June is was close to forty. All of these eggs. except two sets. were hatcheJ, and these two sets were deserted, probably because of death of old birds during the bad weatherr
"July is to 25 the young were coming out daily. Then there was a lull until after August to, when the outcoming young were should have previously mentioned that the birds which lost their young rebuilt immediately, anti from their nests came the young mentioned here 1 think all these unfortunate parents laid eggs and reared broods, as on August
in my
again numerous. t
to, there were twelve broods in house No. 3. This is the house which had remained eleven or twelve nests full of dead young.
"In my booklet on the Marlin Colony page 20— you will note a statement that a cold, wet spell beginning on June 27 and
- "rhe Slur)‘ 0| a Martin \Vartten
Jacol ..
onlruu~ h, l
