34 
HIRUNDO PURPUREA. 
individuals have been noted to return to the same box 
for several successive years. Even the solitary Indian 
seems to have a particular respect for this bird. The 
Chactaws and Chickasaws cut otf all the top branches 
from a sapling* near their cabins, leaving the prongs a 
foot or two in length, on each of which they hang a 
gourd, or calabash, properly hollowed out for their 
convenience. On the banks of the Mississippi, the 
negroes stick up long canes, with the same species of 
apartment fixed to their tops, in which the martins 
regularly breed. Wherever I have travelled in this 
country, I have seen with pleasure the hospitality of 
the inhabitants to this favourite bird. 
As superseding the necessity of many of my own 
observations on this species, I beg leave to introduce in 
this place an extract of a letter from the late learned 
and venerable John Joseph Henry, Esq. judge of the 
supreme court of Pennsylvania, a man of most amiable 
manners, which was written to me but a few months 
before his death, and with which I am happy to honour 
my performance: — “ The history of the purple martin 
of America,” says he, “ which is indigenous in Pennsyl- 
vania, and countries very far north of our latitude, will, 
under your control, become extremely interesting. 
We know its manners, habitudes, and useful qualities 
here ; but we are not generally acquainted with some 
traits in its character, which, in my mind, rank it in the 
class of the most remarkable birds of passage. Some- 
where (I cannot now refer to book and page) in Anson’s 
Voyage , or in Dampier, or some other southern voyager, 
I recollect that the martin is named as an inhabitant of 
the regions of southern America, particularly of Chili ; 
and, in consequence, from the knowledge we have of 
its immense emigration northward in our own country, 
we may fairly presume that its flight extends to the 
south as far as Terra del Fuego. If the conjecture be 
well founded, we may, with some certainty, place this 
useful and delightful companion and friend of the 
human race as the first in the order of birds of passage. 
Nature has furnished it with a lengthy, strong, and 
