e 
260 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
PROGNE PURPUREA. — Bote. 
The Purple Martin. 
Hirundo purpurea, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 844. Aud. Orn. Biog., I, 
(1831) 115. 
Progne purpurea, Boie. Isis (1826), 971. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Largest of North-American Swallows; closed wings rather longer than the 
deeply forked tail; tarsi 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-brownish beneath, blotched with darker or with bluish. 
Length, seven and thirty one-hundredths inches; wing, five and eighty-five 
one-hundredths; tail, three and forty one-hundredths inches. 
The Purple Martin is the least abundant of all our 
Swallows, and, indeed, in some localities is quite rare. 
It arrives from the South about the first week in May, 
and is distributed in single pairs through all New Eng- 
land. 
The description, by Wilson, of the habits of the bird, is 
so well written that 1 present quite a liberal extract from it. 
He says, — 
“The summer residence of this agreeable bird is universally 
among the habitations of man, who, having no interest in his 
destruction, and deriving considerable advantage as well as amuse- 
ment from his company, is generally his friend and protector. 
Wherever he comes, he finds some hospitable retreat fitted up for 
his accommodation and that of his young, either in the projecting 
wooden cornice, on the top of the roof or sign-post, in the box 
appropriated to the Blue-bird, or, if all these be wanting, in the 
dove-house among the pigeons. In this last case, he sometimes 
takes possession of one quarter or tier of the premises, in which 
not a pigeon dare for a moment set its foot. Some people have 
large conveniences formed for the Martins, with many apartments, 
which are usually full tenanted, and occupied regularly every 
spring ; and, in such places, particular individuals have been noted 
to return to the same box for several successive years. Even the 
solitary Indian seems to have a particular respect for this bird. 
