PROGNE FURCATA, Baird. 



PATAGONIAN PURPLE MARTIN. 



Progne purpurea (nee L.), Gould, Voj. 'Beagle,' Birds, p. 38 (1841) ; Scl. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 548 ; Hudson, t, c. p. G06 ; Duruford, Ibis, 1877, p. 32, 1878, p. 392 ; 



White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 595. 

 Progne modesta (uec Gould), Gray, Cat. Fissir. Brit, Mus. p. 28 (1848). 

 Progne f areata, Baird, Review Amer. B. p. 278 (1864) ; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1867, 



pp. 321, 337 ; id. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 531 ; Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 74, no. 890 (1869) ; 



Sharpe, Auk, i. p. 368 (1884) ; id. Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. p. 175 (1885) ; 



Sclater & Hudson, Argent. Orn. i. p. 24 (188S). 

 Progne elegans (juv.), Baird, Review Amer. B. p. 275 (1864) ; id. in Baird, Brewer, 



& Ridgw. Hist. N. Amer. B. i. p. 328 (1874) ; Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 



viii. p. 89 (1883). 



P. purpurascenti-nigra : fascia alba unica sericea ad latera dorsi infirm posita. 



Hah. in America meridional:, in Patagonia usque ad Brasiliam meridionalem et provinciam Mendozanam. 



Adult male. General colour purplish blue above and below ; the lesser and median wing-coverts like 

 the back ; greater coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills black, glossed externally with 

 blue ; tad-feathers black, washed with blue ; on the sides of the back a small tuft of silky white 

 feathers. Total length 7-7 inches, culmen - 5, wing 5 - 55, tail 33, tarsus 06. 



Adult female. General colour above dull blue, with a brown shade on the forehead and hinder neck; 

 wing-coverts like the back, the greater and primary-coverts and quills blackish, glossed exter- 

 nally with dull blue, browner on the inner webs; tail-feathers blackish glossed with blue ; lores 

 dusky blackish ; sides of face and ear-coverts dull smoky brown, with a slight blue gloss ; 

 cheeks and throat dull smoky brown; remainder of under surface of body dark smoky brown, 

 with blackish shaft-streaks, and obscured with broad whity-brown edges to the feathers ; the 

 under tail-coverts coloured like the breast, the long ones dull brown, with whity-brown edges 

 and a distinct subterminal shade of purplish black ; sides of body nearly uniform dark brown, 

 with a purplish gloss; axillaries and under wing-coverts uniform smoky brown, the coverts 

 near the edge of the wing edged with whity brown; quills smoky brown below. Total length 

 7'8 inches, culmen - 55, wing 5o, tail 3'3, tarsus 0'55. 



Obs. The types of Progne elegans of Baird were lent to us by the U.S. National Museum. The speci- 

 men no. 21009 agrees with the female birds in the British Museum: it is marked " <S juv.," 

 and may be a male of the second year. The second specimen (no. 21011) is undoubtedly quite 

 young, judging from the light margins to the feathers of the upper surface, these being very 



2c 



