Since then Mr. J ohn Calvert very kindly bronght me his
bird to examine, and this proves to be an old male, rather
larger than the young bird, and of very' brilliant plumage.
These two birds, though shot during the same week, were not
both killed on the same day, two or three days intervened;
and the brood might therefore have been raised in this country.
The Purple Martin, according to Mr. Audubon, makes its
appearance in the city of New Orleans from the' first to the
ninth of February, occasionally a few days .earlier. At the
falls of the Ohio they arrive from the lo th to the 25th of
March; at Philadelphia they are first seen about the 10th
of April; they reach Boston about the-'-25th, and continue,
-their migration much farther north, as the spring continues
to open. From the circumstance of these-Martins leaving
.the United States early in August, Mr. Auduborii’s?inclined
to consider that they may go farther from them than any
others of the American migratory land birds. Interesting
accounts of the habits of this species, and“ the partiality .entertained
by the Americans for them, will be found in the works
of the Naturalists already quoted at the head of this sub|eeti
but, obliged to confine my notice to the limits of n single leaf,
which the bookbinder is to place as, directed dn thé genus 'faf'
which -the bird belongs, I can only add a short (fescMptiont
Bill black ; head, nech,' back, upper tail-cöTerts;, and all the
under surface of the body shining purple-blue; wings and
tail-feathers black, the primaries edged with brown; the
wing-coverts tinged with blue ; legs and feet, blackish-brown.
Whole length six inches and three-quarters ; wing from the
carpal joint to the end of the longest feather five inches and
a half. The young bird. :-y
T H E C OM M O N jIW IF T .
MjHiÂïïnptyu&Mà r vol.ä.jp. 5S0a\!
The Swft,
u J, / ’ 'V " ^Bruits, i. p, 306.
1 ^ 5, ‘ 5 61.
■ J æ n t o s , B r jt._ \ p r t f n f t 1 ô î h ,
of'Tlurope,.pf.
Cypselus , , ï/î"**
,, « murtnnut,,'-.Common
>> *
Vli muraiïvmyThe T.
' (M 'dM nM & e f 'M v ,rw i. ’Man. d^thith.vol. i. p. 434*
\ ‘ a r a —-TTrdk'^g'y ^liort, tri|||pilar at its base,
concealed, mandible
booked at | M B | .■^tri^ ^ ndinal.l^|ut b^afe open,
thr’edges raised and finished with Bathers. Tarsi*^y short; toes
f a r , all directed-.fiS&vaids'ancl ^ t i^ lƒ ws short, strong and curved.
Wings»;very long ;$t|ie first q^ffifeatber^^ttle shorter than the second.