90 
VERTEBRATA. 
ting in large numbers, and building groups of gourd-shaped nests on the faces of cliffs ; found 
throughout the United States : Wilson's White-bellied Swallow, H. bicolor, a very handsome 
species, also known throughout our country ; the Thalassijsta Swallow, IT. Thalassina^ the most 
beautiful of the family, found in New Mexico, California, and Mexico ; the Rough- winged Swal- 
low, H. serripennis^ found from Pennsylvania to Louisiana ; and the H. fulva, common in Jamaica. 
Genus PROGNE : Progne.- — This includes many sj)ecies, and among them the Purple Mar- 
tin, P. purpurea^ seven and a half to eight inches long ; the entire plumage black, with a silky 
purple and bluish luster. This well-known bird is a general inhabitant of the United States, and 
a particular favorite wherever he takes up his abode. Wilson says: "I never met with more 
than one man who disliked the martins and would not permit them to settle about his house. 
This was a penurious, close-fisted German, who hated them because, as he said, 'they ate his 
peas^ I told him he must certainly be mistaken, as I never knew an instance of martins eating 
peas ; but he replied with coolness, that he had many times seen them himself 'blaying near the 
hife, and going schnip, schnap^^ by which I understood that it was his bees that had been the suf- 
ferers ; and the charge could not be denied." 
This sociable and half-domesticated bird arrives from the south late in April or early in May ; 
its summer residence is universally among the habitations of man, who, having no interest in his 
destruction, and deriving considerable advantage, as well as amusement, from his company, is 
generally his friend and protector. Wherever he comes, he finds some hospitable retreat fitted 
up for his accommodation and that of his young, either in the projecting wooden cornice on the 
top of the roof or sign-post, in the box appropriated to the bluebird, or, if all these be w^anting, 
in the dove-house among the pigeons. In this last case, he sometimes takes possession of one 
quarter or tier of the premises, in which not a pigeon dare for a moment set its foot. Some peo- 
ple have large conveniences formed for the martins, with many apartments, which are usually fully 
tenanted, and occupied regularly every spring ; and, in such places, particular individuals have 
been noted to return to the same box for successive years. 
The Purple Martin, like his half-cousin, the kingbird, is the terror of crows, hawks, and eagles. 
These he attacks whenever they make their appearance, and with such vigor and rapidity that 
they instantly have recourse to flight. So well known is this to the lesser birds and the domestic 
poultry, that, as soon as they hear the martin's voice engaged in fight, all is alarm and consterna- 
tion. To observe with what spirit and audacity this bird dives and sweeps upon and around the 
hawk or the eagle is astonishing. 
There are several species of this genus belonging to South America, one of which, the West- 
ern Martin, H. chalyhea, is sometimes seen within the southern boundaries of the United States. 
Genus CYPSELUS : Cypselus.- — This includes several species, called Swifts^ of which the 
American Chimney-Swallow or American Swift, G. acutus — the Acanthylis Pelasgia of Lin- 
naeus — is a well-known species. It is four to six inches long ; the whole body deep brown, with 
a greenish luster on the head and neck; the wings very long, extending beyond the tail. The 
flight of this bird, like that of the other species of the genus, is bold, vigorous, and rapid, the 
wings being bent downward, and kept in constant motion. This laborious flight is kept up, with 
little interruption, from dawn to twilight, that is, for fourteen hours. The great peculiarity of 
the species is, that it builds its nest and rears its young, often hundreds together, in chimneys, 
not of deserted but inhabited houses, though they avoid those in which a fire is kept. The nest 
is of a singular construction, being formed of very small twigs, fastened together with a strong, 
adhesive glue or gum, which is secreted by two glands, one on each side of the hind part of the 
head, and mixes with the saliva. With this glue, which becomes .hard as the twigs themselves, 
the whole nest is thickly besmeared. The nest is small and shallow, and attached by one 
side or edge to the wall, and is totally destitute of the soft lining with which the others are so 
plentifully supplied. The eggs are generally four, and white. There are two broods in the sea- 
son. The young are fed at intervals during the greater part of the night. The noise which the 
old ones make, in passing up and down the funnel, has some resemblance to distant thunder. 
AVhen heavy and long-continued rains occur, the nest, losing its hold, is precipitated to the bot- 
tom. In 1857, during a long season of wet, cold weather in June, four hundred and eighty of 
