PETROCHELIDON. 459 



white. Hab. Whole of temperate North America; south, in winter, 

 into Mexico (as far as Guanajuato, Tepic, Mazatlan, etc.). 



611. P. subis (Linn.). Purple Martin. 

 b 2 . Smaller, with narrower tail-feathers, and, relatively, more deeply forked 

 tail. Adult male with feathers of ventral region marked, beneath sur- 

 face, with a broad spot, or bar, of white. Adult female and immature male 

 with whole under portion and sides of head and neck, chest, sides, and 

 flanks, uniform sooty grayish brown, in marked contrast with pure 

 white of belly, anal region, and under tail-coverts. Length about 7.60, 

 wing 5.35-5.60, tail 2.90-3.25 (forked for .65-.90). Hob. Cuba and 

 southern Florida ; Honduras ? 



— . P. cryptoleuca Baird. Cuban Martin. 1 



a 2 . Adult males with anterior and lateral lower parts smoky grayish brown (the 



feathers with more or less distinctly paler tips), the belly, anal region, and 



lower tail-coverts white; adult females similar to adult males, but upper 



parts less glossy, the forehead always (sometimes whole top of head) dull 



dark smoky grayish brown. 



Adult male with upper parts uniform glossy blue-black, or dark violaceous 



steel-blue (rather less violaceous than in P. subis and P. cryptoleuca) ; 



length (skin) about 6.30-7.00, wing 5.10-5.40, tail 2.65-2.90. Sab. 



Southern Mexico (north to Vera Cruz), Central America, and northern 



South America, south to Tobago, Guiana, and western Ecuador. 



P. chalybea Gmel. Gray-breasted Martin. 2 



Genus PETROCHELIDON Cabanis. (Page 457, pi. CXIV., fig. 3.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — Adults: Forehead white, pale brownish, or chestnut; 

 top of head uniform glossy blue-black; hind-neck brownish gray, with more or less 

 of chestnut on upper portion; back and scapulars glossy blue-black, the first 

 streaked, more or less, with white ; rump cinnamon or cinnamon-buff; upper tail- 

 coverts grayish brown, margined with paler; wings and tail plain dusky; lores 

 black ; rest of head (except as described above), including chin and throat, rich 

 chestnut or light cinnamon ; sides and flanks (sometimes chest also) grayish 

 brown, more or less tinged with cinnamon ; longer under tail-coverts grayish 

 dusky, bordered with white. Young: Essentially like adults, but colors much 

 duller, with pattern less sharply defined. Nest a gourd- or retort-shaped structure 

 composed of pellets of mud, mixed with a few straws and lined with soft feathers, 



1 Progne cryptoleuca Baird, Review Am. B. i. May, 1865, 277. 



Six Cuban and two Floridan specimens of this well-marked species are before me. The adult females and 

 immature males (of which there are four from Cuba and two from Florida in the National Museum collection — 

 the latter from Cape Florida and Clearwater) are exceedingly distinct in plumage from those of P. subis. In 

 fact, they resemble so closely the corresponding plumages of P. dominicensis Gmel. that I am unable to state 

 how they can be distinguished. P. dominicensis has not yet been taken, however, in Cuba. 



2 Hirundo chalybea Gmel., S. N. i. 1788, 1026. Progne chalybea Boie, Isis, 1844, 178. 



