The Western Martin 



their way up and down on the "left hand side" of the Rockies, but the 

 three or four stragglers taken in California appear to have been members 

 of lost companies of easterners, rather than scouts of a new migration 

 route. Thus, a second year male, observed on the Farallons, June ist, 

 191 1, was associated with Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Green 

 Warbler, Ovenbird and other waifs. 



No. 102 



Western Martin 



A. O. U. No. 61 la. Progne subis hesperia Brewster. 



Description. — Adult male: Rich violet bluish black, glossy and metallic 

 (never "purple"); wings and tail dead black. Adult female: Somewhat similar to 

 male, but upperparts chiefly sooty gray, the blue-black element present in variable 

 amount as broad plating of feather-tips, notably on crown, scapulars, wing-coverts 

 and upper tail-coverts; some indication of paler collar across nape; breast, broadly, 

 lighter sooty gray, with darker mesial streaks and much whitish edging; forehead, 

 sides of neck, and throat sooty gray, still more overspread with whitish; belly and 

 crissum dull white; the lower breast white with sharp mesial streaks of sooty gray. 

 Bill black, stout, and broad at base, decurved near tip; nostrils exposed, circular, 

 opening upward; feet moderately stout. Young males resemble adult female, but are 

 somewhat darker, the steely blue appearing at first in patches. Length 184. 2-215. 9 

 (7.25-8.50); av. of 8 specimens: wing 146. 1 (5.75); tail 73 (2.87); bill 11. 7 (.46); tarsus 

 x 5 (-59)- Females average smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Towhee size; the largest of the swallows; blue-black, 

 or blue-black and sooty gray coloration. 



Nesting. — Nest: Of leaves, grass, and trash, sometimes lined with fine green 

 leaves; in some cavity, as old woodpecker holes, etc., or in crannies about buildings. 

 Eggs: 4 or 5, rarely 6; elongate ovate; pure, glossy white, unmarked. Av. size 24.9 

 x 18.5 (.98 x .73). Season: First week in June; one brood. 



Range of Progne subis. — North and South America, breeding from the southern 

 British Provinces to Mexico, and wintering in Brazil. 



Range of P. s. hesperia. — Summer resident in the Pacific Coast district, broadly, 

 from British Columbia to Cape San Lucas; winter range undefined. 



Distribution in California. — Fairly common migrant throughout the State; 

 summer resident of very local distribution, in sections offering nesting facilities; hence, 

 practically confined to timbered areas, save as found (increasingly?) in cities and 

 towns. 



Authorities. — Bonaparte (Progne purpurea), Compte Rendu, xxxviii., 1854, 

 p. 650 (Calif.); Barlow, Condor, vol. iii., 1901, p. 174 (Placerville and Slippery Ford, 

 breeding); Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 89 (status in s. Calif.). 



THOSE to whom the Purple Martin [Progne subis) of the East is 

 one of the most familiar objects of springtime, are surprised to note the 

 scarcity, one might almost say rarity, of this species in the West. While 



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