The Purple Martin (Corrie Herring Hooks Series) [Hardcover]

Robin Doughty (Author), Rob Fergus (Author)

Book Description

Series: Corrie Herring Hooks Series | Publication Date: June 15, 2002

One of the surest harbingers of spring is the return of Purple Martins to the houses that people put up across the United States to attract these companionable birds. The bustle of courting, rearing nestlings, and fledging young martins fills the summer months, until approaching autumn lures the martins to their winter range in South America. Then human landlords refurbish their martin houses and wait for another round of this much-anticipated yearly cycle. Robin Doughty and Rob Fergus here present a concise natural history of the bird and its centuries-long companionship with people. They discuss the martin's scientific classification and names, its migration and range, and its family life. They relate stories of how Native Americans and European colonists attracted Purple Martins and how Americans throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries helped martins survive the loss of natural nesting sites by providing houses for them. The authors also describe how whole communities have become centres for martin promotion and detail the many organisations and resources in print and on the Internet through which martin fans can communicate with each other and learn more about attracting and housing the birds.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Purple martins, the largest swallow, can be found in most of the U.S. during the spring and summer, nesting in colonies in human-made martin houses and (sometimes) in holes in trees. The authors, both Texans, explain the classification of these "aerial acrobats" and discuss their migration and range. They explain the birds' role in the founding of the Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds and discuss their life cycle and the reciprocal relationship between them and humans. With 16 color and four black-and-white illustrations, this book "is about a special relationship--the regard, affection, and understanding we have increasingly come to express about a bird that responds more and more to our concern for its survival." Truly a labor of love, it contains a wealth of information about this backyard treasure. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"This book is a convenient, one-stop source for scads of martin information and will make informative and pleasing reading for all of [the public] who are attracted to martins, including martin 'landlords.'" William J. Graber III, past vice president, American Birding Association, and past president, Texas Ornithological Society and The Nature Conservancy of Texas

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 104 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1 edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029271615X
• ISBN-13: 978-0292716155
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars special relationship, April 1, 2007

By 

David A. Baer (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Purple Martin (Corrie Herring Hooks Series) (Hardcover)

This finely produced University of Texas hardback is not your typical off-the-rack 'What's that bird?' book.

What bird book do you know that begins with such picturesque scene-setting: 'It is 6:30 a.m. in late April: a strange assortment of liquid chirps, chortles, and muffled yodels threads the dimness about to be burnished. In a nearby yaupon, a cardinal hammers bellow chinks into the still-black earth. Overhead, Purple Martins lance dawn--expressing their invisible presence through these baubles of sound that hang, as do the minstrels, in the dew-rich air.'

The two Texan authors, clearly in love with their land and the birds that fly above and well beyond it, maintain this lyrical tone throughout a volume that is more collector's item than reference book.

93 pages of such reflection, printed on high-quality stock, cover 'Classification: Species and Names', 'Migration and Range', 'Colonial Regard: Early Interest in Martins', 'Martins and Bird Protection', 'Life of the Purple Martin', 'Purple Martin Promotion', and 'Landlords'.

As Doughty and Fergus recognize early on, their topic is the 'special relationship' that binds these migratory and acrobatic birds and the humans who have adored them in this country since colonial times. It seems almost touching rather than tragic that in most of the North American continent Purple Martins are entirely dependent upon human beings for housing.

I first became aware of the Purple Martin-loving community by barely noticing the Martin homes that the Amish around my town in Central Pennsylvania built beautifully simple Martin houses. My wife recently reminded me that Harrison Ford memorably ran into one of these in his car in the film Witness, then poignantly ended his refugee time among the Amish people by bending is newly acquired carpentery skills to build a (replacement?) Martin house.

Now I own the scratches on my leg from having assembled - just now - my first Purple Martin house, soon to be erected in the front yard of my Indiana home.

If THE PURPLE MARTIN is to be believed, Ford's generosity is arguably still to be remembered as Martin dads and moms teach their fledgelings to seek and to enjoy the company of men and women, some of whom welcome their Springtime return from winter in the tropics with almost religious zeal.

Though the authors are both scientists, they have produced something near to a work of poetry, attractive for its high-quality construction and both endearing and informative for the loving labor that has taught us to love these acrobats of the sky, intrepid travelers, loyal friends, witnesses to creation as an act of good love.