HIRUNDLNID.E — THE SWALLOWS — PROGNE. 2^3 



Progne purpurea, Linnjeus. 



THE PURPLE MARTIN. 



Hirnndo purpnrra. LiNN;Ens, Syst. Nat. I. 17C6, 344. — Wilson, Am. Oni. V. 58 ; pi. .39, f. 

 1, 2. — AuDcnoN, Orn. Biog. I. 1831, 115; pi. xxiii. lu. Birds Amcr. I. 1840, 170; 

 pi. xli. — Pini/ne purpwra, BoiE, Isis, 1826, 971. — BoxAPARTE, List, 1838. — Cassin, 

 Illust. I. 1855, 245. — Brewer, N. Am. Ool. L 1857, 103 ; pi. iv. f. 47 (Egg). — Baird. 

 P. R. Rep. IX. Birds, 314. — Heekma.nx, X. vi. 35. — Cooper and Sucklet, XIL iii. 

 Zool. of W. T. 186. 



Sp. Cir.\R. Larfxcpt of North American sivallovrs. Clopcd wiiifjs rather lonrrpi- than 

 the deeply forkcil tail. Tar.«i and toes naked. Color in the old male, everywhere glossy 

 steel-blue, with purple and violet reflections. Female, and immature male, less brilliant 



above, pale lirownish beneatli, blotched with darker or with lihu>h. Length, 8.00 ; ex- 

 tent, 16.25 ; wing, 5.80 ; tail, 3.40. L-is and feet brown ; bill black. 

 Hab. United States generally. 



I liave not seen the beautiful and sociable martins in the Colorado Val- 

 ley, nor olxserved them along the coast earlier than April 29th, wlieu they 

 were migrating through San Francisco, percliing for a few hours on lofty 

 flag-staffs during the warm morning, but disappearing ■\\-lien the cold sea- 

 breeze began to blow. They resort chiefly to the warm valleys of the in- 

 terior, nesting in holes of large trees from near San Diego to Puget's Sound. 

 I also found them nesting on the summits of the Coast Range, in conijiany 

 with the Hirundo hicolor and fhalassina, but preferring the dead tops of the 

 loftiest red woods for their domiciles. They are numerous at Sacramento in 

 summer, and jirobably through most of tlie Sierra Nevada, but retire to the 

 south in August. 



They have not yet attracted so much attention among our mo-\-abIc and 

 busy people as in the East, wliere almost every country-house, and even 

 some in large cities, furuisli them with a residence, usuall)' a neat little 



