PETROCJIELIDOy. 459 



■white. Hah. AVhoIo of temperate Xortb America ; south, in winter, 

 into Mexico (as far as Guanajuato, Tepic, Mazallau. etc.). 

 (77.) 611. P. subis (Li.NN.). Purple Martin. 



W. Smaller, with narrower tail-feathers, and, relatively, more deeply forked 

 tail. Adult male with feathers of ventral region marked, beneath sur- 

 face, with a broad spot, or bar, of white. Adult female and immature male 

 with whole under portion and sides of head and neck, chest, sides, and 

 flanks, uniform sooty grayish brown, in marked contrast with pure 

 white of bell}-, anal region, and under tail-coverts. Length about 7. GO, 

 wing 5.35-5.G0, tail 2.90-3.25 (forked for .65-.90). Mab. Cuba and 

 southern Florida; Honduras? 



Gll.l. P. cryptoleuca Baird. Cuban Martin.' 



a^. Adult males with anterior and lateral lower parts smoky grayish brown (the 



feathers with more or le.ss distinctly paler tips), the belly, anal region, and 



lower tail-coverts white; adult femahs similar to adult males, but upper 



parts less glossy, the forehead always (sometimes whole top of head) dull 



dark smoky grayish brown. 



Adult male with upper parts uniform glossy blue-black, or dark violaceous 



steel-blue (rather less violaceous than in P. subis and P. cryptoleuca) ; 



length (skin) about 6.30-7.00, wing 5.10-5.40, tail 2.65-2.90. Hab. 



Southern Mexico (north to Vera Cruz), Central America, and noi-thern 



South America, south to Tobago, Guiana, and western Ecuador. 



P. chalybea Gmel. Gray-breasted Martin.- 



GExrs PETROCHELIDON Cabanis. (Page 457, pi. CXIY., fig. 3.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — Adults: Forehead white, pale brownish, or chestnut; 

 top of head uniform glossy blue-black; hind-neck brownish gray, with more or less 

 of chestnut on upper portion; back and scapulars glossy blue-black, the first 

 streaked, more or less, with white; rump cinnamon or cinnamon-buff; upper tail- 

 coverts graj'ish brown, margined with paler; wings and tail plain dusky; lores 

 black; rest of head (except as described above), including chin and throat, rich 

 chestnut or light cinnamon ; sides and flanks (sometimes chest also) grayish 

 brown, more or less tinged with cinnamon ; longer under tail-covei'ts grayish 

 dusky, bordered with white. Young: Essentially like adults, but colors much 

 duller, with pattern less sharply defined. Nrst a gourd- or retort-shaped structui'c 

 composed of pellets of mud, mixed with a few straws and lined with soft feather.s, 



' Prr.jue cryptotetien Bairp, Review Am. B. i. May, 1.'65, 277. 



Six Cuban and two Floriian specimens of this well-marked species are before me. The adult females and 

 immature males (of which there arc four fmm Cuba and two from Florida in the Xational Museum collection — 

 the latter from Cape Florida and Clearwater) are cxcecdinjtly distinct in plumage from those of P. mli: In 

 fact, they resemble so closely the corresponding plumaEjes of P, ffnminicen^i* Gmrl. that I am unable to state 

 how they can be distinjruisheil. P. rfommiVriuM had not yet been taken, however, in Cuba. 



> Birundo chati/bca GuEL., S. X. i. 17SS, 1026. Projiie chali/bea BoiE, Isis, 1S44, 17S. 



