The changes of plumage in this species are not properly understood, and whether seasonal 

 differences exist we have not heen able to make out. The young birds are brown with scarcely 

 any gloss, and whatever lustre there be is of a greenish tint. There seems to be nothing of the 

 pale-edged feathers which are found in the young of P. purpurea, and in most specimens of the 

 latter there are distinct purple spots on the upper throat. 



In the breeding-season the throat becomes extremely dark, and there are distinct blue-tipped 

 feathers on the sides of the fore neck and chest. In the winter plumage adults apparently have 

 ashy margins to the feathers of these parts, but we have not been able to trace the chauges at 

 different seasons with any degree of certainty. At one period of its life P. purpurea has a white 

 breast, and is very similar to P. chalybea. It has, however, always a longer wing (5 - 45-5 - 9), 

 and has the breast more coarsely streaked with blackish shaft-lines. There are generally also 

 some blue feathers on the chin or throat, which proclaim the species. 



Hab. Throughout Central America and the greater part of South America, as far as Southern Brazil 

 and Bolivia. 



Brisson appears to have been the first naturalist to describe this Purple Martin, calling 

 it ' L'Hirondelle de Cayenne.' Neither his description nor his figure are sufficiently 

 accurate to determine for a certainty that they were intended for P. chalybea, and not 

 for a young individual of P. purpurea, a species which also visits Cayenne in its 

 migrations. 



The references to Montbeillard (Hist. Nat. Ois. vi. p. 675) and to Daubenton (PI. 

 Enl. vii. pi. 545. fig. 2), made by us in the ' Catalogue of Birds,' do not seem really to 

 refer to the present species, though they are considered by both Latham and Gnielin so 

 to do. Latham's description, however, of the ' Chalybeate Swallow ' answers tolerably 

 to our bird, and this name Gmelin latinized into Hirundo chalybea, by which title the 

 species is now widely known and recognized by the best authorities. 



Mr. Cassin included this species in his ' Birds of California,' where, he says, it was 

 first met with by Mr. John Bell of New York, but he himself subsequently saw several 

 examples from that country. Mr. Bidgway (Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. iii. p. 236) has 

 very properly placed the species amongst those whose claim to be considered North- 

 American is doubtful, and there can be no question that Cassin mistook a stage of 

 P. purpurea for P. chalybea. 



The records of most observers in the field are very similar with regard to the habits 

 of this species, and it appears to breed throughout the wide extent of country recorded 

 below. In Mexico it has been met with by Salle at S. Andres Tuxtla, at Jalapa by Le 

 Oca, and in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by the late Colonel Grayson. Professor 

 Sumichrast states that it inhabits the hot and temperate region, and is found on the 

 shores of both oceans, but does not extend into the department of Vera Cruz, further 

 than to the height of 1200 metres. It nests at Orizaba in the steeples of churches and 

 old buildings. 



In Guatemala it was noticed in many places by Messrs. Salvin and Godman, but 

 principally in the low-lying districts, the greatest height at which the travellers observed 



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