If there is a MARTIN colony on the poultry farm the chickens are safe. These airmen are afraid of nothing which flies and of few animals which prowl. They are the only birds I ever saw attack Kingbirds and often confused those redoubtable warriors by swift onslaughts and pinion prowess.
A small Martin colony at Saybrook, Long Island, fought a pair of Kingbirds steadily for over a week. The offensives were delivered in relays until the tyrants sat on the fence with drooping wings and open bills, thoroly tired but not accepting defeat. When they learned to respect the deadline, the Martins ceased fighting and often joined forces in harrying crows or hawks away from the sacred precincts.
NEST: built in manmade "houses" of any convenient material — twigs, grass, paper, rags or grass, sparsely or abundantly packed in the box. In isolated localities the original hollow tree site still is utilized.
EGGS: 3 to 6; plain glossy white.
From southern British provinces and from Nova Scotia west to Montana, south to the Gulf Coast.
Similar to Purple Martin.
Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Cape San Lucas.