Plate XXIII. Male and Female.
Bill rather stout; wings as long as the tail, which is deeply
emarginate. Plumage silky, shining, purplish-black, with steel blue
reflections; quills and tail-feathers brownish-black; tarsi and toes
purplish-black. Female with the upper parts paler, and tinged with
grey, the lower light grey, longitudinally streaked with black.
_Male_, 7-1/2, 16. _Female_, 7-4/12, 15-9/12.
From the Texas northward. Rocky Mountains, and all intermediate
districts. Migratory.
Purple Martin, Hirundo purpurea, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. i. p. 58.
Hirundo purpurea, Bonap. Syn. p. 64.
Purple Martin, Hirundo purpurea, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 598.
Purple Martin, Hirundo purpurea, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 115;
v. v. p. 408.