Chapter II: GENUS PROGNE. Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 971

Form robust and compact; bill wide at base, compressed suddenly to the tip, rather strong; upper mandible overlapping the under; wings long, pointed; first and second primaries longest; tail moderate, rather wide, usually deeply emarginate; tarsi and feet larger and stronger than usual in this family.

Size, largest of American birds of this family. This genus contains about five or six American species, several of which are nearly related to each other, and not well understood, and probably one other (_Hirundo borbonica_, Gm.), which is a native of Madagascar, and of the Island of Bourbon. All the species, except the last, considerably resemble each other, and are difficult to distinguish in some stages of plumage.

1. Progne purpurea. (Linn.) The Purple-Martin. The House Martin.
Hirundo purpurea et subis. Linn., Syst. Nat. I. p. 344. (1766.)
Hirundo violacea. Gm., Syst. Nat. I. p. 1026. (1788.)
Hirundo cœrulea. Vieill., Ois. d’Am., Sept. 1, pl. 57. (1807.)
Hirundo versicolor. Vieill., Nouv. Dict. XIV. p. 509. (1817.)
Hirundo ludoviciana. Cuv., Reg. An. I. p. 374. (1817.)

Catesby, Carolina I. pl. 51; Vieill., Ois. d’Am., Sept. 1, pl. 26, 27;
Buff, Pl. Enl. 722; Wilson, Am. Orn. V. pl. 30, fig. 2, 3; Aud., B. of
Am., pl. 22, Oct. ed. I. pl. 45; Nat. Hist. N. Y. Birds, pl. 28, fig.
61.

Bill moderately wide at base, rather strong, curved; wings reaching
about to the end of the tail, which is deeply emarginate; legs short;
toes rather long. Male.—Entire plumage above and below deep black,
with a purple and blue silky lustre; quills and tail less lustrous,
and in many specimens plain brownish-black; bill and feet black.
Female. Upper-parts same as in the male, but paler; under-parts
ashy-brown, dark on the throat and breast; paler and sometimes nearly
white on the abdomen; under tail coverts dark brown, every feather
edged with ashy-white.

Dimensions. Total length, male, 7½ inches; wing, 5¾; tail, 3 inches.
Female slightly smaller.

Hab. Eastern North America. Canada (Dr. Hall); Oregon (Dr. Townsend);
Texas (Dr. Woodhouse); Cuba (Mr. Lembeye); Florida (Mr. John Lee
Williams).

In mature plumage, a beautiful species. This bird is common throughout the eastern United States, and comes with much punctuality in the spring to take possession of the boxes prepared for its accommodation in the rural districts, and occasionally in the cities. Our esteemed friend, Mr. Thomas Fisher, an eminent mathematician of this city, has been annually visited by a colony of this species for several years, though his residence is in one of the most dense parts of Philadelphia.

This bird is nearly allied to several species of South America and the West Indies. In fact, the genus _Progne_ is one of the most difficult of the family of Swallows.

2. Progne chalybea. (Gmelin.) The Western Martin.
Hirundo chalybea. Gm., Syst. Nat. I. p. 1026. (1788.)

Buff, Pl. Enl. 545, fig. 2.

Size smaller than that of the preceding; bill very wide at base, much
longer than in the preceding, gradually compressed to the tip, curved;
wings reaching about to the end of the tail, which is deeply
emarginate; under tail coverts long; legs short. Male, adult? Plumage
of the upper parts dusky black, with a dark green lustre; throat and
breast ashy white, running into light smoky brown on the sides of the
neck, breast, and flanks; abdomen and under tail-coverts pure white,
many feathers having dark lines on their shafts; under wing-coverts
and axillaries fuliginous brown. Female? Similar to the male, but less
lustrous on the upper parts, and with the entire plumage more tinged
with fuliginous; under tail-coverts pure white, many feathers with
dark shafts; bill and feet dark.

Dimensions. Total length, about 6¾ inches; wing, 5¼; tail, 3 inches.
Female slightly smaller.

Hab. Western North America. South America, California, Panama (Mr.
Bell).

This species, long known as a bird of South America, was first ascertained to be entitled to a place in the ornithological fauna of the United States by Mr. John G. Bell, of New York, who noticed it in California, and previously at Panama. We have since seen specimens from various parts of California, and suspect that it is abundant in that and probably in other countries of Western America.

Though closely related to other South American species, the present bird may be distinguished very easily from the Purple Martin of the United States (_P. purpurea_), by the greater width and much greater length of the bill, and it is smaller in size. We are not confident that we have ever seen the perfectly plumaged adults of this bird, though the specimens above described were obtained by Mr. Bell in the spring, and have the general appearance of maturity, except that the lustre of the plumage is but faint. Little or nothing is known of its habits or history.