PURPLE MARTIN. 363 



The male has the whole body black, highly glossed with 

 shining purple-blue, except a white patch on each side 

 beneath the wing; the wings and tail are brownish-black 

 slightly glossed with purple, which on the wing-coverts 

 form indistinct bars : the bill is black : the irides dark : 

 the legs and feet blackish-brown. The whole length is six 

 inches and three-quarters, the wing from the carpal joint 

 five inches and a half. 



The female is very similar, but much duller, above, and 

 beneath brownish-grey, which becomes lighter on the belly 

 and crest, but the feathers of the latter have a dark shaft.* 



With this species ends the account of the Order Passeres 

 to be here given. Those which next follow form a hetero- 

 geneous assemblage, contrasting remarkably with the unifor- 

 mity of internal structure that characterizes all the Passeres, 

 however they may differ in habits and outward appearance. 

 It does not appear desirable in the course of the present 

 work to enter deeply into disquisitions on systematic arrange- 

 ment, but it must be evident to all serious students of orni- 

 thology that the various so-called " Families " of true- 

 Passeres are by no means so distinct as the " Families " of 

 the next Order. The Hirundinida, however, may fairly be 

 regarded as a well-defined group, for, strictly Passerine as 

 they are in every part of their structure, they are sharply 

 separated from every other section that the ingenuity of 

 systematists has invented — no existing form having pre- 

 sented itself that will ally them to any other Family. 



* The supposed occurrence at Derby, in 1850, of another American Swallow, 

 Tachycineta bicolor, was recorded by Wolley (Zool. p. 3806), and though he, 

 with his usual caution, was careful to remark that there was "a possibility of 

 mistake " about the matter, there can be little doubt of the truth of the story 

 told to him. The species at first sight somewhat resembles our House-Martin, 

 but is easily distinguished by wanting the white rump and the feathered legs of 

 that bird. Wolley's specimen was exhibited to the Zoological Society, February 

 28tb, 1860, and is now in the Museum at Norwich. 



