CHARACTERS OF PROGNE SUBIS 447 



Hirundo vio acea, Gm. SN. i. 1788, 1026 (BnfiF. vi. G74; PE. ~Q^.; Lath, ii.pt. ii. 574, n. 21).— 

 Turt. SX. i. 1806, C32.— Xess. " Compl. Buff. viii. 498 ". 



Cecpopis vioSacea, Bote, Isis, 1828, 3iC. 



Hlrnndo csnilea, T. OAS. i. 1807, 57, pis. 23, 27.— Less. Tr. Orn. 1831, 269. 



Hirundo versicolor, Y. "X. D. d'H. N. xiv. 1817, 509 ".— F. EM. ii. 182.3, 522, n. 17. 



Hiruudo ludoriciann, Omw. "RA.i. 1817, 374". 



Purjjlc .Martin, Hirundo purpurea, Catcs. Car. i. 1771, 51, pL hi. 



Martinet de la Caroline, Hirundo apos carolinensis, Briss. Orn. ii. 1760, 515, n. 17 

 (quotes Gates. 51). 



Martinet coulcur de poarprc, Buf. "vi. 676". 



Purp'.e Swallow, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. ii. 1783, 575, n. 23. 



Purple Swilt, Pcnn. AZ. ii. 1785, 431, n. 333. 



Great ,4mcrican Martin, I^dw. pi. 120. (Basis of H. -"ubis L. 1758.) 



Hirondellc de la Baye dc Hudson, Hirundo freti-budsonis, Briss. Orn. vi. 1760, App. 

 56, n. 18 (quotes Edw. pi. 120, and H. subis l.).—Bitff. " vi. 677 ". 



Canada Swallow, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. ii. 1783, 575, n. 24 (= subis L.). 



Hirondellc bleue de la Louisianc, Buff. vi. 674 (PE. 720).— F. I.e. 1823. 



Violet Swallow, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. ii. 1783, 574, n. 21 (quotes PE. 722, and Buff. vi. 674. Loui- 

 siana). 



Hirondelle bleue, Le IToine, Ois. Canad. 18C1, 146. 



Progn6 pourprc, Degl.-Oerbe, 1. c. 



Purpurscbwalbe, German. 



Hab.— North America, to within the Arctic circle, breeding throughout 

 this range, wintering extralimital. Bermuda. Mexico and Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Accidental in Europe. 



Ch sp. — $ Chalybeus ; alis cauddque nitenti-nigricantibus. 

 $ Chalybeofuscus, alls cauddque fuscis, infra exfusco albidus. 



$ : InteDse lustrous steel-blue. Wings and tail blackish, with bluish 

 lustre. Bill black; feet blackish. Length, 7^ inches; extent, 15^; wing, 

 5^-6; tail, 3-3i, forked; bill, |, very stout, broad at the base, somewhat 

 decurved at the end ; nostrils circular, exposed, opening upward. 



9 : Dark grayish-brown, glossed on the back and head with steel-blue. 

 Wings and tail fuscous, paler on the inner webs, with narrow gray edgings. 

 Beneath, whitish, shaded with dark gray in most parts, the feathers very 

 generally with dusky shaft-line. 



Young birds of both sexes resemble the adult female, though the young 

 males are rather darker. The steel-blue appears at first in patches. 



THE question of the winter retreat of tlie Purple Martin is 

 still open, and not likely to be decided till we come to 

 some better understanding of the several whole-colored species 

 of Progne now recognized as inhabiting Middle and South 

 America. No bird of the United States is better known ; no 

 one is more positively ascertained to leave us in the fall and 

 return in the spring ; millions of Martins are bred every year 

 in North America, and yet I find no unequivocal recognition 

 by late writers of Purple Martins beyond the United States, 

 excepting in Bermuda, Mexico, and Lower California. It is 

 true, wo have plenty of references to " purpurea" as a Central 

 and South American bird -, but the present technical aspects 



