SWALLOWS. 319 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



A. Upper parts with metallic reflections. 



a. Under parts steel-blue. 



a 1 . Feathers on the belly fuscous at the base . 611. PURPLE MARTIN $ . 

 a 9 . Feathers on the belly white at the base . . 611.1. CUBAN MARTIN $. 



b. Throat chestnut, rufous, or brownish. 



b 1 . Upper tail-coverts the same as the back ; tail with white spots. 



613. BARN SWALLOW. 

 b*. Upper tail-coverts rufous or buffy; no white in the tail. 



612. CLIFF SWALLOW. 



c. Throat gray or white. 



c l . Entire under parts white 614. TREE SWALLOW. 



c s . Throat and breast brownish gray .... 611. PURPLE MARTIN 9 . 

 c*. Throat, breast, and sides sooty brownish gray. 



611.1. CUBAN MARTIN 9 . 

 _Z?. Upper parts without metallic reflections. 



a. Under parts entirely white 614. TREE SWALLOW. 



b. Throat and breast brownish gray . . 617. KOUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. 



c. Throat and belly white ; a brownish gray band across the breast. 



616. BANK SWALLOW. 



611. Progne subis (Linn.). PURPLE MARTIN. Ad. 6. Shining 

 blue-black ; wings and tail duller. Ad. 9 . Upper parts glossy bluish black, 

 duller than in the $ ; wings and tail black ; throat, breast, and sides brownish 

 gray, more or less tipped with white; belly white. Im. Resembles the 9. 

 L., 8-00 ; W., 5-80 : T., 2-90 ; B. from N., -32. 



Range. North America, north to Newfoundland and the Saskatchewan ; 

 breeds throughout its range ; winters in Central and South America. 



Washington, rather common S. E., Apl. 12 to Sept. 5. Sing Sing, tolerably 

 common S. R., Apl. 27 to Sept. 11. Cambridge, locally common S. R., Apl. 20 

 to Aug. 25. 



Nezt, of straws, twigs, etc., in houses or gourds erected for the purpose. 

 Eggs, four to five, white, TOO x -73. 



The Purple Martin is very common throughout the south, and 

 breeds wherever gourds or boxes are erected for its occupation. In 

 the Northern States it is a comparatively rare bird of local distribu- 

 tion, and is apparently decreasing in numbers each year. 



In Forest and Stream, vol. xxii, 1884, p. 484, Mr. Otto Widmann, 

 of Old Orchard. Missouri, presents an interesting table showing how 

 often young Martins are fed. He watched a colony of sixteen pairs 

 of birds from 4 A. M. to 8 P. M., during which time the parents visited 

 their offspring 3,277 times, or an average of 205 times for each pair. 

 The males made 1,454, the females 1,823 visits. 



611.1. Progne cryptoleuca Baird. CUBAN MARTIN. Ad. $ . 

 " Similar to P. subis, but feathers of ventral region marked beneath surface, 

 with a broad spot or bar of white." Ad. 9 and im. $ .Similar to those of 



