152 
PURPLE MARTIN. 
sharp-pointed, strong, and very elastic, and of a deep black 
, colour ; the shafts of the wing-quills are also remarkably 
strong ; eye, black, surrounded by a bare blackish skin, or 
orbit. 
The female can scarcely be distinguished from the male by 
her plumage. 
PURPLE MARTIN HIRUNDO PURPUREA. 
Plate XXXIX. Fig. 2. Male. Fig. 3. Female. 
Lath . Syn. iv. p. 574, 21. Ibid. iv. p. 575, 23 Catesb. Car. i. -51 Arct. 
Zool. ii. No. 333. — Hirondelle blue de la Caroline, Buff. vi. p. 674. PI. enl. 722. — 
Le Martinet couleur de pourpre, Buff. vi. p. 676 — Turt. Syst. 629 — Edw. 120. — 
Hirundo subis, Lath. iv. p. 575, 24 — Peale's Museum , Nos. 7645, 7646. 
HIR UNDO P URP UREA. — Linnjeus. * 
Hirundo purpurea, Bonap. Synop. p. 64. — North. Zool. ii. p. 335. — The Purple 
Martin, Aud. Orn. Biog. i. p. 114, pi. 22, male and female. 
This well known bird is a general inhabitant of the United 
States, and a particular favourite wherever he takes up his 
abode. I never met with more than one man who disliked 
the Martins, and would not permit them to settle about his 
* This bird, at first sight, almost presents a different appearance from a 
Swallow ; but, upon examination, all the members are truly that of Hirundo , 
developed, particularly the bill, to an extraordinary extent. The bill is very 
nearly that of a Procnias, or Ptiliogonys ; but the economy of the bird presents 
no affinity to the berry-eaters ; and the only difference in its feeding seems 
the preference to larger beetles, wasps, or bees, which its strength enables 
it to despatch without any danger to itself. 
This bird exclusively belongs to the New World, and its migrations have a 
very extensive range. It makes its first appearance at Great Bear Lake on 
the 17th May, at which time the snow still partially covers the ground, and 
the rivers and lakes are fast bound in ice. In the middle of August, it retires 
again with its young brood from the Fur Countries. In a southern direction, 
Mr Swainson observed numbers round Pernambuco, 8^ degrees south of the 
line. They migrate in flocks, and at a very slow rate. The account of Mr 
Audubon, who witnessed them, will shew the possibility of much less powerful 
birds performing an immense distance, especially where every mile brings them 
an additional supply of food, and a more genial climate. I give his own words : — 
