THE BIRDS OF XEW JERSEY. 251 



611 Progne subis (Linnaeus). 

 Purple Martin. 



PLATE 65. 



Adult male. Length, 8. ' Wing, 5.75. Above and below, uniform glossy viola- 

 ceous steel-blue; flight feathers, dull black. 



Adult female. Above, duller and mixed with gray ; under parts, sooty gray ; 

 breast, abdomen and crissum, white, more or less narrowly streaked with black. 



Young in first summer. Sooty brown above, head and back slightly glossed 

 with steel-blue ; below, mouse-gray on throat, breast and sides ; on abdomen, 

 white, narrowly streaked with black. 



Young male in first summer. Similar, but darker. In first breeding season. 

 Like adult female, but with some glossy steel-blue feathers scattered here and 

 there. 



Nest mainly in boxes erected fpr its use, to which it carries twigs, straw, etc. ; 

 eggs, four to five, white, .95 x .65. 



Common summer resident in the southern counties, but locally dis- 

 tributed ; rare northward. Arrives March 29th, departs September 1st. 



The Martins are not governed in their distribution by the presence of 

 Martin boxes, for many an attractive box has been erected in vain, 

 while in other places any sort of cover, even the hood of an electric 

 light, has proved satisfactory. 



Colonies occur all along the seaboard and throughout the pine bar- 

 ren wilderness, in which districts some curious make-shift of boxes 

 are to be seen, but in the other parts of the State they are rare or 

 only stragglers. 



The Martins make a great disturbance while the young are being 

 raised, and later the whole colony may be seen scouring the meadows 

 for food. 



612 Petrochelidon lunifrons (Say). 

 Cliff Swallow, Eave Swallow. 



Adults. Length, 5-6. Wing, 4.25. Above, head and back, glossy steel-blue, 

 the back streaked with whitish ; rump, cinnamon rufous ; wings and tail, dull 

 black ; forehead, pinkish or rusty ; sides of face and throat, chestnut ; center 

 of throat, glossy steel-blue ; breast and sides, grayish-brown, tinged with chest- 

 nut ; middle of abdomen, white ; under tail-coverts, dusky, edged with white. 



Young in first summer. Above, dull brownish-black, slightly glossed with 

 blue on the back and head ; rump, cinnamon rufous, and tertials tipped with 

 the same ; sides of face, dull black, throat largely the same, but mottled with 



