DESCRIPTIVE LIST 



259 



Genus Progne (Boie.) 

 255. Progne subis subis (Linn.}. PURPLE MARTIN. 



Description. -Male lustrous blue-black, above and below; wings and tail duller. Female 

 duller, underparts grayish, belly white. Extreme measurements of six North Carolina speci- 

 mens: L., 7.50-7.90; W., 5.15-^.00; T., 2.50-3.15. 



Range. Most of North America in summer. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State in summer. 



FIG. 207. PURPLE MARTIN. 



The Purple Martin, better known as " Black Martin," is locally common through- 

 out the State, its abundance in summer being apparently dependent on the nesting 

 facilities, in the way of martin boxes or suspended gourds, which man provides for 

 its accommodation. There is a marked, but unexplained, irregularity in the dates 

 of its arrival in the State. Thus it is said to reach Bertie County in the middle or 

 latter part of March, while in most of the remainder of the State the earliest dates 

 are about the middle of April, with an occasional March record. For instance, at 

 Raleigh it has been recorded only once in March (March 16, 1907), in twenty-five 

 years of observation. (C. S. BRIMLEY.) 



This species used to breed in hollow trees , but since the white man came and pro- 

 vided better accommodations for nesting places it has discontinued this custom, 



