Alfred Newton

“ The martin builds soon after its return, and a nest that has outlasted the winter is almost at once re-occupied. The bird usually in the course of the summer raises a second, or rarely a third, brood of offspring—though the latest broods often die in the nest, apparently through failure of food. What seem to be adults are observed in England every year so late as November, and sometimes within a few days of the winter solstice, but these late birds are almost certainly strangers. ”

“ In America its range extends (having due regard to the season) from Melville Island to Caiçara in Brazil, and from Newfoundland to Alaska.
The purple martin of America, Progne purpurea, is a favourite in Canada and the United States. ”