CHARACTERS OF PROGNE SUBIS 447 



Hlrundo VlO acea, Gm. SN.i. 1788,1026 (Bnffivi. 674; PE. 722; Lath.u.pt.ii.574,n.81).— 



Fitrt. SN. i. 1806, 632.— icss. " CompL Ba£E viii. 498 ". 

 Cecropla riolacea, Boie, Isia, 1828,316. 



Hirundo cierulea, V. OAS. i. 1807, 57, pis. 36, VI.— Less. Tr. Om. 1831, 269. 

 Hlrundo versicolor, V. "Jf.D.d'H.K.xiT.1817,509".— F. EM. ii. 1823, 522, n. 17. 

 HiruDdo ludoTlclana, Outi. "KA.i. 1817, 374". 

 Purple Martin, Hlrundo purpurea, CcUen. Car, 1 1771, 51, pL ."il. 

 Martinet de la Caroline, Hlrundo apos carollnensis, Brias. Om. ii. 1760, 515, n. 17 



(qaotesCates. 51). 

 Martinet couleur de pourpre, Buff. " vi. 676 ". 

 Purple Swallow, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. ii. 1783, 575, n. 23. 

 Purple Swirt, Pmn. AZ. ii. 1785, 431, n. 333. 

 Great American Martin, Mdw. pi. 120. (Basis of H. mbis L. 1758.) 

 Hlrondelle de la Bayo de Hudson, Hlrundo fretl-hudsonls, Briss. Orn. vi. 1760, App. 



56, n. 18 (quotes Edw. pi. 120, and H. subis L.).— Btt/. " vi. 677 ". 

 Canada tiwallow. Lath. Syn. ii. pt. ii. 1783, 575, n. 34 (= subis L.). 

 Hlrondelle bleue de la Lonlslanc, Buff. vi. 674 (PE. 722).— r. 1.0.1823. 

 Violet Swallow, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. ii. 1783, 574, n. 21 (quotes PE. 722, and BufE vi. 674. Loul- 



Biana). 

 Hlrondelle bleue, Le Maine, Ois. Canad. 1861, 146. 

 Progn^ pourpre, Degl.-Oerhe, 1. o. 

 Purpurscbwalbe. Oerman. 



Hab.— North America, to within the Arctic circle, breeding throughout 

 this range, wintering extralimital. Bermuda. Mexico and Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Accidental in Europe. 



Ch. sp. — $ Chalybeus; alts eauddque nitenti-nigricantibus. 

 2 Chalybeofuscus, alis eauddque fuscis, infra exfusco albidus. 



I : Intense lustrous steel-blue. Wings and tail blackish, with bluish 

 lustre. Bill black; feet blackish. Length, 7^ inches; extent, 15i; wing, 

 &J-6; tail, 3-3J, forked; bill, ^, very stout, broad at the base, somewhat 

 decurved at the end ; nostrils circular, exposed, opening upward. 



5 : Dark grayish-brown, glossed on the back and head with steel-blue. 

 Wings and tail fuscous, paler on the inner webs, with narrow gray edgings. 

 Beneath, whitish, shaded with dark gray in moat parts, the feathers very 

 generally with dusky shaft-line. 



Young birds of both sexes resemble the adult female, though the young 

 males are rather darker. The steel-blue appears at first in patches. 



THE question of the winter retreat of the Purple Martin is 

 still open, and not likely to be decided till we come to 

 some better understanding of the several whole-colored species 

 of Progne now recognized as inhabiting Middle and South 

 America. No bird of the United States is better known ; no 

 one is more positively ascertained to leave us in the fall and 

 return in the spring ; millions of Martins are bred every year 

 in North America, and yet I find no unequivocal recognition 

 by late writers of Purple Martins beyond the United States, 

 excepting in Bermuda, Mexico, and Lower California. It is 

 true, we have plenty of references to " purpurea " as a Central 

 and South American bird j but the present technical aspects 



