While picking up my daughter at school this afternoon, heard a Prairie Warbler singing away. Then saw a Swallow flying around, that was large and dark under- neath, like a female Purple Martin. Last year Kate Finlayson and I saw a perched female Purple Martin at this same spot. Here's what seemed strange to us last year. We watched a half dozen of these birds fly around this area numerous times last spring. We would watch as they flew into the tail pipes of the parked school buses. One or two began building nests inside them. Is this unusual for a Martin to do? We decided that the 7-8 buses parked side by side, and their tail pipes all in a row were attractive to the birds, and maybe they had no other spot to nest. Which reminds me Kate, we had talked about erecting a Martin house for those poor birds!! Shelley Shelley Theye N. Chatham County, NC veery@bellsouth.net