B50 NOTES ON THE 
primaries about equal, second quill longest, first and third a 
little shorter; tail moderate, slightly forked; general color, 
bright carmine; wings and tail velvet black, the quills intern- 
ally edged with white towards the base. 
Length, 7.40; wing, 4; tail, 3. 
Habitat, eastern United States, west to the Plains. 
Family HIRUNDINID_. 
PROGNE SUBIS (L.). (611.) 
PURPLE MARTIN 
When the long winters of Minnesota have gone so that the 
snows have disappeared from the thickets and corners of the 
fences, and tiny coleopterous insects begin to appear in the 
air, even though still chilly, the Purple Martin may appear any 
forenoon, approaching 12 o’clock. It usually does so in com- 
pany with greater numbers of the White-bellied Swallows. -In 
1870 they both came on the 17th of April, and after skirmishing 
vigorously about for an hour, and finding no food along the 
river, departed as abruptly as they came. On the 22d they re- 
turned in augmented numbers, and went no more away for the 
season. They soon build their nests in various places, but 
manifest a strong preference to have them near dwellings. 
Their readiness to occupy boxes, artificial houses placed on 
poles, on the eaves of out houses, is a matter of the commonest 
observation, doubtless for no sentiment toward our species, but 
because our habits and our habitations attract the larger quan- 
tities of insects upon which they feed. Yet, like the Chimney 
Swallows, they frequent the forests, and employ holes in old 
dead trees in many places familiar to me. They habitually 
enter the state at the southern border early in April, as Dr. 
Hvoslef of Lanesboro has the 3d of that month in his record 
for several years in succession. He also observed the circum- 
stances of their disappearing again for afew days—once eleven 
—and then invariably remaining upon their return. The nests 
consist of fine straw, hay, dried leaves, and feathers which are 
employed to line it. They lay four pure white eggs, that are 
almost indistinguishable from those of the White-bellied Swal- 
low. The first brood is brought out by the 10th of June and 
another one late in July. 
As a fighter, the courage of this bird has but one approxima- 
tion, and that is in the Kingbird. Crows, ravens, hawks and 
