170 
Genus I.— HIRUNDO, Linn. SWALLOW. 
Characters as above ; tail em'arginate or forked. 
THE PURPLE MARTIN. 
Hirundo purpurea, Linn. 
PLATE XLV. — Male and Female. 
The Purple Martin makes its appearance in the City of New Orleans from 
the 1st to the 9th of February, occasionally a few days earlier than the 
first of these dates, and is then to be seen gambolling through the air, 
over the city and the river, feeding on many sorts of insects, which 
are there found in abundance at that period. 
It frequently rears three broods whilst with us. I have had several 
opportunities, at the period of their arrival, of seeing prodigious flocks 
moving o-ver that city or its vicinity, at a considerable height, each bird 
performing circular sweeps as it proceeded, for the purpose of procuring 
food. These flocks were loose, and moved either eastward, or towards the 
north-west, at a rate not exceeding four miles in the hour, as I walked 
under one of them with ease for upwards of two miles, at that rate, on the 
4th of February, 1821, on the bank of the river below the city,, constantly 
looking up at the birds, to the great astonishment of many passengers, 
who were bent on far different pursuits. My Fahrenheit’s thermometer 
stood at 68°, the weather being calm and drizzly. This flock extended 
about a mile and a half in length, by a quarter of a mile in breadth. On 
the 9th of the same month, not far above the Battle-ground , I enjoyed 
another sight of the same kind, although I did not think the flock so 
numerous. 
At the Falls of the Ohio, I have seen Martins as early as the 15th of 
March, arriving in small detached parties of only five or six individuals, 
when the thermometer was as low as 28°, the next day at 45°, and again, 
in the same week, so low as to cause the death of all the Martins, or to 
render them so -incapable of flying as to suffer children to catch them. 
By the 25th of the same month, they are generally plentiful about that 
neighbourhood. 
At St. Genevieve, in the State of Missouri, they seldom arrive before the 
