10 



Tarpon Springs it is difficult to obtain birds, as tbey are almost confined to tbe town 

 limits, where shooting of all birds at any season is prohibited. At this point the first 

 Martins to arrive are seen as early as the first week in March, but I suspect these are 

 representatives of true P. subis on their way north, as the birds that frequent the Martin- 

 boxes in the town do not seem at all common until the first week in April, and do not 

 nest until the middle or last of that month. Mr. Atkins noticed the first Martins at 

 Punta Rassa on March 20, 1886, and saw them frequently during the summer ' at a 

 point on the beach near the pine-trees. Evidently breeds.' He has also noted Martins as 

 rather common migrants at Key West, but has not found them breeding at that point." 



Mr. Chapman states that at Gainsville, Florida, the Purple Martins arrived on the 

 3rd of March. The species was a common summer resident, breeding where boxes and 

 gourds were erected for their accommodation. Messrs. Brewster and Chapman record 

 the ordinary Purple Martin from the Suwanee River, so that they apparently do 

 not recognize the distinctness of P. cryptoleuca, which Mr. Scott believes to be the 

 resident species in Florida. The latter gentleman states that in the Caloosahatschie 

 Region P. cryptoleuca is a migrant and breeds, while P. purpurea is a migrant only. 

 Mr. Maynard gives the following note : — 



" The first time I ever met with the Martins in Florida was on Biscayenne Bay. 

 I was rowing along the shore north of Miami, in company with Mr. Henshaw, when we 

 observed two of these birds flying about a dead stub in the pine woods, which at this 

 point came down to the shore uninterrupted by a hummock. This was in April, and 

 they were evidently searching for a breeding-place. In May 1872, Mr. E. C. Greenwood 

 found them nesting abundantly on the western bank of Indian Paver, near Fort Capron. 

 This style of building appears to be usual with these birds while in the wilderness, but 

 in the more settled portions of the South, as well as in the North, they prefer boxes 

 erected for their benefit." 



The Purple Martin occurs in the Bermudas on migration, as Mr. Jones mentions 

 that, like Tachycineta bicolor, they were numerous during the great flight of Swallows in 

 September, 1849. 



The late Colonel Grayson writes : — " I found it breeding in Tepic, in the month of 

 May, also in Guadalajara ; they were nesting under the eaves of houses or in water- 

 spouts. It is seldom seen in the locality of Mazatlan, and then only accidental and 

 migratory, flying very high." 



Professor Sumichrast says that the species is resident in the alpine region of 

 Vera Cruz. 



In the ' Biologia Centrali- Americana,' Messrs. Salvin and Godman have the following 

 remark : — " Referring to its Mexican range, it seems not improbable that this is 

 merely an extension of the area it inhabits during the summer months in North America, 

 and that the Mexican birds accompany the more northern ones in their winter migration. 

 Against this theory is Professor Sumichrast 's observation that the bird is resident in the 

 higher parts of Vera Cruz." 



