416 SWALLOWS 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



1. Upperparts with metallic reflections. 



A. Underparts steel-blue. 



a. Feathers on the belly fuscous at the base 611. PURPLE MARTIN <?. 



b. Feathers on the belly white at the base . 611.1. CUBAN MARTIN rf 1 . 



B. Underparts not steel-blue. 



a. Throat chestnut, rufous, or brownish. 



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



613. BARN SWALLOW. 

 a 2 . Upper tail-coverts rufous or buffy; no white in the tail. 



612. CLIFF SWALLOW. 

 6. Throat gray or white. 



b 1 . Entire underparts white 614. TREE SWALLOW. 



6 2 . Throat and breast brownish gray . . 611. PURPLE MARTIN 9. 



6 3 . Throat, breast, and sides sooty brownish gray. 



611.1 CUBAN MARTIN 9. 



2. Upperparts without metallic reflections. 



a. Underparts entirely white 614. TREE SWALLOW. 



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



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



616. BANK SWALLOW. 



611. Progne subis subis (Linn.}. PURPLE MARTIN. Ad. <?. Shining 

 blue-black; wings and tail duller. Im. & in winter. Resembles the 9. 1m. <? 

 in summer. Similar to 9 , but bluer above and with a number of adult blue 

 feathers scattered through underparts. The ad. cf plumage is acquired at 

 the first postnuptial molt. Ad. 9. Upperparts 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. L., 8'00; W., 5'80; T., 2'90; 

 B. from N., '32. 



Range. N. and S. A., except the Pacific coast region. Breeds from w. 

 cen. Alberta, s. Sask., cen. Man., nw. Ont., N. B., and N. S., w. to Mont, 

 and Idaho, and s. to the Gulf coast, Fla., Vera Cruz and Jalisco; win- 

 ters in Brazil; accidental in Bermuda and the British Isles. 



Washington, rather common S. R., Apl. 1-Sept. 14. Ossining, tolerably 

 common S. R., Apl. 27-Sept. 11. Cambridge, formerly locally common S. R., 

 Apl. 20- Aug. 25. N. Ohio, common S. R., Apl. 1-Sept. 5. Glen Ellyn, local 

 S. R., Mch. 23-Sept. 10. SE. Minn., common S. R., Apl. 1-Sept. 9. 



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

 Eggs, 4-5, white, I'OO x "73. Date, Tarboro, N. C., May 19; Cambridge, 

 May 30; St. Louis, Mo., May 21. 



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 distribution. 



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 off- 

 spring 3,277 times, or an average of 205 times for each pair. The males 

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



1903. JACOBS, J. W. (Waynesburg, Pa.), The Story of a Martin Colony 

 (methods of attracting, etc.). 1906. TAVERNER, P. A., Wilson Bull., 

 XVIII, 87-92 (roost). 



611.1. Progne cryptoleuca Baird. CUBAN MARTIN. Ad. c?. "Similar 

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



