A PAIR OF HOUSE-MARTINS, AND WHAT THEY ACCOMPLISHED. [To THE
EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Even in the midst of the education controversy some of your readers may be interested to hear of a minor controversy which has been taking place between myself and two little Hich Wycombe workers,—namely, a pair of house-martins.
The point in dispute has been the site of their house for this year. A martins' nest has been built immediately over the porch of my house for the last three years, but, owing to the litter on the doorstep, I determined this year to prevent its being built, and thought it kinder not to allow the birds to build the whole nest, but to remove the first beginnings, and thus persuade the little creatures to choose in good time another site for their house. I little foresaw the protracted struggle on which I had entered, which the following dates will show. On May 13th I first noticed that a large piece of the old home- stead had been rebuilt. This I at once assailed with a walking.. stick, to the natural resentment of the little builders, who screamed fiercely, but did not attempt to rebuild that day. Since then it has been a trial of strength between these plucky little birds and the big human being, showing, I think, some power of strategy on the part of the former and some signs of failing determination on the part of the latter. From May 14th to 19th there were daily buildings and destructions. On May 20th the nest was destroyed at 9 a.m., and at 11 a.m. a large piece was again built. This I did not touch ; but, notwithstanding, on May 21st and 22nd no building took place. From the 23rd to the 30th the nest was built and destroyed daily. On the 31st it was built but not destroyed, and, strange to say, no building took place for a week. On June 8th building again began, and continued to the 10th, after which, from June 11th to 30th, nothing was built, and I fondly imagined the straggle was over, and that the birds had recognised discretion as the better part of valour, and wisely chosen another sphere for their operations. But, alas ! on looking out of my window this morning (6 a.m., July 1st) I found a new mud wall erected, and my first work must be one of destruction.
The interesting point to decide is : Is it invincible determina- tion or invincible ignorance on the part of these small fellow- creatures P The long spaces of time allowed to pass between some of the building operations would seem to show their wish to persuade me that they bad given up all intention of building in the debated spot, and thus to throw me off my guard so that they could return to the attack unobserved. On the other hand, their coming back at all seems to point to some lack of intelli- gence on their part in appreciating the forces arrayed against them in the big human being with the strong will and the stick. Or perhaps, after all, they may be cleverer than appears, and may have gauged quite accurately the weak place in the big human being's position,— namely, the soft spot in the heart, which could not resist the appeal of their courageous sticking to their guns in spite of so much discouragement. For now—at 6 p.m.—the walking-stick is still in the hall, and I am looking with undisguised admiration at my small assailants busily building; and I should not be surprised if the martins had their nest for a fourth year over my porch !
Abbot's Cottage, High Wycombe, Bucks.
[Our sympathies are entirely with the house-martins. They have clearly established their right to make our corre- spondent's porch as untidy as they like.—ED. Spectator.]
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