- Song:
- Very soft and musical, beginning " peuo-peuo-peuo."
- Season:
- Late April to early September.
- Breeds:
- Through range, rearing two broods a season.
- Nest:
- A little heap of leaves; in the East in boxes, but in the West
in hollow trees.
- Eggs:
- 4-6, glossy white.
- Range
- Temperate North America, south to Mexico.
Without being precisely a common bird, the Purple Martin is with us every summer, and its iridescent coat is a familiar sight. Its size and colour easily separate it from the rest of the family, and the sweet song completes the identification.
A little after dawn, in early May, you may see pairs of these Martins hovering in mid-air, half caressing, half quarrelling, while from time to time you will hear the liquid "peuo-peuo-peuo" merging into a more throaty ripple, like laughter.
The Martin is a favourite, and always seems to have been regarded as such. Houses are provided for his shelter, children are cautioned not to molest him, and the farmer, usually so callous toward bird attractions, has no word for him but of praise; as he consumes a vast quantity of evil insects, and these, too, of a larger size and different class from those captured by other Swallows, and he does not claim a single bud or berry to discount his utility.
Even among the wild men he was always a protected guest. Wilson relates that the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians used to strip the leaves from small trees near their encampments, and hang upon the prongs, hollowed-out gourds that the Martins might nest in them, and the Mississippi negroes also hung similar contrivances on long canes to coax the Martin to stay.
The Purple Martin is as courageous as the Kingbird in attacking Crows and Hawks, but for all this he seems unable to cope with the English Sparrow, who is steadily and persistently appropriating his houses. The Sparrow has the advantage of being more prolific, as well as more gross and brutal in its methods, and represents in the bird
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