alpine regions of Mexico, and is also found at Cape St. Lucas. Accidental specimens have been detected in England and in Ireland. It is abundant on the Saskatchewan. Burmeister states that this species is common in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, and that it is distributed in moderate abundance through the whole of tropical South America. Von Pelzeln also cites it as occurring on the Rio Negro and at Manaqueri through the three winter months, nesting in old buildings and in holes in the rocks. It is, however, quite possible that they refer to an allied but distinct species.
In a wild state the natural resort of this species, for nesting and shelter, was to hollow trees and crevasses in rocks. The introduction of civilized life, and with it of other safer and more convenient places, better adapted to their wants, has wrought an entire change in its habits. It is now very rarely known to resort to a hollow tree, though it will do so where better provision is not to be had. Comfortable and convenient boxes, of various devices, in our cities and large towns, attract them to build in small communities around the dwellings of man, where their social, familiar, and confiding disposition make them general favorites. There they find abundance of insect food, and repay their benefactors by the destruction of numerous injurious and noxious kinds, and there, too, they are also comparatively safe from their own enemies. These conveniences vary from the elegant martin-houses that adorn private grounds in our Eastern cities to the ruder gourds and calabashes which are said to be frequently placed near the humbler cabins of the Southern negroes. In Washington the columns of the public buildings, and the eaves and sheltered portions of the piazzas, afford a convenient protection to large numbers around the Patent Office and the Post-Office buildings.
The abundance of this species varies in different parts of the country, from causes not always apparent. In the vicinity of Boston it is quite unusual, though said to have been, forty years since, quite common. There their places are taken by the H. bicolor, who occupy almost exclusively the martin-houses, and very rarely build in hollow trees.
Sir John Richardson states that it arrives within the Arctic Circle earlier than any other of its family. It made its first appearance at Great Bear Lake as early as the 17th of May, when the ground was covered with snow, and the rivers and lakes were all icebound.
In the Southern States it is said to raise three broods in a season; in its more northern distribution it raises but one. Their early migrations expose the Martins to severe exposure and suffering from changes of weather, in which large numbers have been known to perish. An occurrence of this kind is said to have taken place in Eastern Massachusetts, where nearly all the birds of this species were destroyed, and where to this day their places have never been supplied.
Within its selected compartment the Martin prepares a loose and irregular nest. This is composed of various materials, such as fine dry leaves, straws,
stems of grasses, fine twigs, bits of string, rags, etc. These are carelessly thrown together, and the whole is usually warmly lined with feathers or other soft materials. This nest is occupied year after year by the same pair, but with each new brood the nest is thoroughly repaired, and often increased in size by the accumulation of new materials.
The Martins do not winter in the United States, but enter the extreme Southern portions early in February. Audubon states that they arrive often in prodigious flocks. On the Ohio their advent is about the 15th of March, and in Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania about the 10th of April. About Boston their appearance is from the 25th of April to the middle of May. Mr. Audubon states that they all return to the Southern States about the 20th of August, but this is hardly correct. Their departure varies very much with the season. In the fall of 1870 they were to be found in large flocks, slowly moving southward, but often remaining several days at a time at the same place, and then proceeding to their next halt. Their favorite places for such stops are usually a high and uninhabited hillside near the sea.
The Martin is a bold and courageous bird, prompt to meet and repel dangers, especially when threatened by winged enemies, never hesitating to attack and drive them away from its neighborhood. It is therefore a valuable protection to the barnyard. Its food is the larger kinds of insects, especially beetles, in destroying which it again does good service to the husbandman. The song of the Martin is a succession of twitters, which, without being musical, are far from being unpleasant; they begin with the earliest dawn, and during the earlier periods of incubation are almost incessantly repeated. The eggs of the Purple Martin measure .94 of an inch in length by .79 in breadth. They are of an oblong-oval shape, are pointed at one end, are of a uniform creamy-white, and are never spotted. They are quite uniform in size and shape. Eggs from Florida are proportionally smaller than those from the Northern States.
Progne subis, var. cryptoleuca, Baird.