Progne subis
Order Passeriformes
Family Hirundinidae
♂ Adult male.— Entire body glossy blue-black; wings and tail brown.
♀ Adult female.— Upper parts, wings, and tail brown, glossed on the bead and back with purple; throat and forehead gray; breast brown; belly whitish.
Nest, in “martin boxes.”
Eggs, white.
The Purple Martin is a summer resident throughout New York and New England, but it is extremely local, and apparently growing more rare. Martin boxes set up on tall poles are an interesting feature of many villages and farmsteads, but through large sections of the country, most of Berkshire County, Mass., for instance, Martins are entirely absent. They seem to have a decided preference for the valleys of slow streams, where they may hawk over extensive meadows and sheets of water. They return to their boxes toward the end of April, and leave New England before September.
Their loud, deep voices and the rich blue-black of the males make them attractive neighbors. They spend much time sitting on the doorsteps, so to speak, of their houses, the ledge before the entrance to the box. In July the young birds are seen thrusting their heads out for food. The ordinary notes are a deep musical pew, pew, pew, and a twitter like that of the Barn Swallow, but richer. They have also a harsh squeak. The colonies nearest Boston are in West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Dedham, Lexington, and Concord; near New York city there are colonies at Plainfield, N. J.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)