Purple Martin Progne subis

The Purple Martin, an Almanac

• The naturalist Grebe, who dissected a great many, pronounced the Purple Martin a martyr to its own humours.
• It is now understood among men of learning that it hatches its young from the froth of stagnant water, as any microscope will show.
• There is a stone in the old glebe churchyard the Purple Martin will not light upon.
• The old-timers hereabouts maintain that to see one come off Drift City is to expect visitors by first frost.
• It's said a feather of it, kept in the seed-chest, will turn back the grippe.

Folklore, invented on the spot — not to be believed.