BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



PURPLE MARTIN 



Progne furcata 



Deep purple-blue ; tail black marked with blue ; length 7.7 inches. 

 Female, upper parts dull purple ; head, neck, and lower parts blackish 

 brown. 



THE Purple Martin is occasionally seen in the eastern 

 provinces of La Plata when migrating, but has not 

 been found nesting anywhere so far north as Buenos 

 Ayres. I met with it breeding at Bahia Blanca on 

 the Atlantic coast, and on the Rio Negro, where it 

 is very common. It arrives in Patagonia late in Sep- 

 tember, and leaves before the middle of February* 

 On the fourteenth of that month I saw one flock 

 flying north, but it was the last. It breeds in holes 

 under the eaves of houses or in walls, and its nest is 

 like that of P, chalybea ; but many also breed in 

 holes in the steep banks of the Rio Negro, They do 

 not, however, excavate holes for themselves, but 

 take possession of natural crevices and old forsaken 

 burrows of the Burrowing Parrot (Conurus patacho- 

 nicus). In sise, flight, manners, and appearance the 

 Purple Martin closely resembles the following species, 

 the only difference being in the dark plumage of the 

 under surface. The language of the two birds is 

 also identical ; the loud excited scream when the 

 nest is approached, the various other notes when 

 the birds sweep about in the air, and the agreeably 

 modulated and leisurely-uttered song are all pos- 

 sessed by the two species without the slightest 



