A fancy martin house. One of several that were included in a book about The Relation of Birds to the Cotton Boll Weavil. It USDA published it in 1907. The work advises that purple martins are good at keeping boll weavil populations in check. Building multi-room, fancy martin house like this one would encourage pairs of martins to return year after year.
Five stories of birdie apartments. Sweet fencing and railings on each floor for perching on and watching over their nests. And, a pretty dome at the top. What more could a purple martin ask for in an apartment?
I wish the quality of the vintage bird house drawing was better but it is so elaborate. It would be good if used like a rubber stamped image. You could easily change the color of the lines with most any graphics application.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
