Purple Martin 413 



Alternative Plumage Key to the Colorado species. 



A. Larger — wing over 5. 



a. Glossy blue-black above and below. P. subis, c? p. 413. 



b. Glossy blue-black above, grey below. P. subis, $ p. 413. 

 A. Smaller — wing under 5. 



a. Rump rufous, contrasting with the glossy blue-black back. 



P. lunifrons, p. 415. 



b. Rump purplish, contrasting with green back. 



T. t. lepida, p. 420. 



c. Riunp the same colour as the back. 



a^ Forehead and throat rufous. H. erythrogastra, p. 417. 

 b^ Forehead and throat without rufous. 



a' Glossy blueish above. I. bicolor, p. 418. 



b' MoiLse-brown above, without gloss. 



a* Throat white, contrasting with the brown chest- 

 band. R. riparia, p. 422. 

 b* Throat and chest smoky- brown. 



S. serripennis, p. 423. 



Genus PROGNE. 



Large Swallows — wing over 5-0 — with a stout strong bill and curved 

 culmen with deflected tip ; nostrils opening superiorly, large, rounded 

 and without scale or operculum ; tail moderately forked, the lateral 

 rectrices tapering and obtusely pointed ; tarsus shorter than the middle 

 toe and claw ; sexes quite distinct ; eggs white. 



The Purple Martins, of which six species are recognized by Ridgway , 

 range over the whole of temperate and tropical America. 



Purple Martin. Progne subis. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 611 — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, p. 181 ; 

 Drew 81, p. 15 ; Morrison 86, p. 153 ; 88, p. 73 ; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 110, 

 217 ; Warren 06, p. 23 ; 08, p. 24 ; Rockwell 08, p. 174 ; Cary 09, p. 183. 



Description. — Male — General colour above and below metallic steely- 

 blue-black ; wings and tail dull black, a concealed white patch on 

 both sides beneath the wing ; iris bro^vn, bill black, legs dark 

 brown to blackish. Length 7-25 ; wing 5-75 ; tail 3-00 ; culmen -50 ; 

 tarsus -52. 



The female resembles the male above but is much duller in shade, 

 and the forehead shows a good deal of greyish ; the hind-neck has a 

 collar of grey more or less distinct ; below pearly-grey, duskier on the 

 breast and flanks, paler on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, most 

 of the feathers with dusky shaft streaks ; wing 5-55, tail 2-75. Young 

 birds closely resemble the adult female but are usually less 

 glossy. 



