32 
HIRUNDO PURPUREA. 
trees or chimneys ; is always most gay and active in 
wet and gloomy weather ; and is the earliest abroad in 
morning, and latest out in evening, of all our swallows. 
About the first or second week in September, they 
move off to the south, being often observed on their 
route, accompanied by the purple martins. 
When we compare the manners of these birds while 
here with the account given by Captain Henderson of 
those that winter in such multitudes at Honduras, it is 
impossible not to be struck with the resemblance ; or 
to suppress our strong suspicions that they may proba- 
bly be the very same. 
This species is four inches and a half in length, and 
twelve inches in extent! altogether of a deep sooty 
brown, except the chin and line over the eye, which 
are of a dull white ; the lores, as in all the rest, are 
black ; bill, extremely short, hard, and black ; nostrils, 
placed in a slightly elevated membrane ; legs, covered 
with a loose purplish skin ; thighs, naked, and of the 
same tint ; feet, extremely muscular ; the three fore 
toes, nearly of a length; claws, very sharp; the wing, 
when closed, extends an inch and a half beyond the tip 
of the tail, which is rounded, and consists of ten feathers 
scarcely longer than their coverts; their shafts extend 
beyond the vanes, are sharp-pointed, strong, and very 
elastic, and of a deep black colour; the shafts of the 
wing quills are also remarkably strong ; eye, black, sur- 
rounded by a bare blackish skin or orbit. 
The female can scarcely be distinguished from the 
male by her plumage. 
GENUS XV. — H1JIUNDO LiNNiEUS. 
70 . HIRUNDO PURPUREA , LINNAEUS AND WILSON. 
PURPLE MARTIN. 
WILSON, PLATE XXXIX. FIG. I. MALE. FIG. II. FEMALE. 
This well-known bird is a general inhabitant of the 
United States, and a particular favourite wherever he 
