332 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



stems of grasses, fine twigs, bits of string, rags, etc. These are carelessly 

 thrown together, and the wliole is usnally warmly lined with feathers or 

 other soft materials. This uest is occupied year after year by the same pair, 

 but with each new brood the nest is thoroughly repaired, and often increased 

 in size by the accumulation of new materials. 



The Martins do not winter in the United States, but enter the extreme 

 Southern portions early in February. Audubou states that they arrive often 

 in prodigious flocks. On the Ohio their advent is about the 15th of j\Iarch 

 and in Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania about the 10th of April. About 

 Boston their appearance is from the 25th of April to the middle of May. 

 Mr. Audubon states that they all return to the Southern States about the 

 20th of August, but this is hardly correct. Their departure varies very nuich 

 with the season. In the fall of 1870 they were to be found in large flocks, 

 slowly moving southward, but often remaining several days at a time at the 

 same place, and then proceeding to their ne.xt halt. Their favorite places for 

 such stops are usually a high and uninliabited hillside near the sea. 



The Martin is a bold and courageous bird, prompt to meet and repel dan- 

 gers, especially wlien threatened by winged enemies, never hesitating to at- 

 tack and drive tliem away from its neighborliood. It is therefore a valuable 

 protection to the barnyard. Its food is the larger kinds of insects, especially 

 beetles, in destroying which it again does good service to the husbandman. 

 The song of the Martin is a succession of twitters, M'hich, without being 

 musical, are far from being unpleasant ; they begin with the earliest dawn, 

 and during the earlier periods of incubation are almost incessantly repeated. 

 The eggs of the Purple Martin measure .94 of an inch in length by .79 in 

 breadth. They are of an oblong-oval shape, are pointed at one end, are of 

 a uniform creamy-white, and are never spotted. They are quite uniform 

 in size and shape. Eggs from Florida are proportionally smaller than those 

 from tlie Nortliern States. 



Progne subis, \iii cryptoleuca, Baird. 



CUBAN MARTIN. 



Progne cryptoleuca, Baiiid, Kev. Am. Birds, 1S64, 277. Hirundo purpurea, D'Or.B. Sagra's 

 Cuba, Ois. 1840, 94 (cxcl.syn.). Progne purpurea, C.iD. Jour. 1856, 3. — Gukdlach, 

 Cab. Jour. 1861. 



Sp. Char. (No. 34,242, $). Color much as in P. suhis, — r\c\). steel-blue, with purple 

 or violet glo.ss ; the wings and tail, however, much more decidedly glossed, and with a 

 shade of greenish. The feathers aro\md the anus and in the anterior portion of crissuni 

 with dark bluish down at ba,«e, pure snowy-white in the middle, and tlien blackish, passing 

 into the usual steel-bhie. The white is entirely concealed, and its amount and purity 

 diminish as the feathers are more and more distant, until it fades into the usual gray 

 median portion of the feather. The usual concealed white patch on the sides under the 

 wings. Total length, 7.60 ; wing, 5.50 ; tail, 3.40 ; perpendicular depth of fork, .8G ; dif- 



