384 



ALECTORIDES. 



Char. Similar to Gallinula, tut form more slender, nostrils small and oval, middle toe shorter 

 than the tar^^us, and the toes without trace of lateral membrane. Colors very handsome (chiefly 

 opai|ue blue, purple, and greeii). 



"Whether the American species, to which the generic name adopted above is properly applicable, 

 are congeneric witli the Old World species {Porphijrio chloronotus, Blith, nee Vieill.), which is 

 tlie type of the genus Porphijrula, Blyth, is at present uncertain. [Cf. D. G. Elliot : " The 

 Genus Porpliyrio and its Species ;" separate pamphlet, from "Stray Feathers," pp. 1-20.] 



There are two American species of this genus, which differ in the following particulars : — 



I. martiuica. Lower parts slaty purple in adult, light buff in young. Wing, 6.80-7.50 



inches ; culnien, 1.80-1.95 ; tarsus, 2.20-2.50 ; middle toe (without claw), 2.25-2.35. 



Hab. Warmer parts of North and South America ; West Indies. 

 I. parva.i Lower parts pure white at all ages. Wing, 5.00 inches ; culmen, 1.20 ; tarsus, 



1.75 ; middle toe (with claw), 2.50. Hab. Northern South America (Cayenne and 



Amazons). 



lonornis martinica. 



THE PURPLE GALLINULE. 



FicUca martinica, Linn. S. N. 1. 1766, 259. 



Gallinula martinica, Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 1790, 769. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 221. — AuD. Orn. 



Biog. IV. 1838, 37, pi. 305 ; Synop. 1839, 210 ; B. Am. V. 1812, 128, pi. 303. — Cass, in Baird's 



B. N. Am. 1858, 753. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 561. 

 Porpliyrio martinica, Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 377. — CouES, Key, 1872, 275; Check List, 1873, 



no. 473. 

 lonornis martinica, Reich. Av. Syst. 1853, 21. — Kidgw. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. 3, 1881, 202, 



227 ; Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 578. — Coues, CJieck List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 685. 

 Fiilica martinicensis, Jacq. Beitr. 1784, 12, pi. iii. — Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 700. 

 FvMca flavirostris, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 699. 

 Porphijrio tavona, Vieill. Gal. Ois. II. 1825, 170. 

 "Porphyria cyanicollis, Vieill." 



Gallinula porpliyrio, WiLS. Am. Orn. IX. 1824, 69, pi. 73. 

 Porpliyrio amcricanus, Swains. Classif. B. II. 1837, 357. 

 Martinico Gallinule, Lath. Synop. III. i. 1785, 255, pi. 83. 



Hab. The whole of tropical and warm-temperate America, south to Brazil ; north, casually, 

 to Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri ; Bermudas, and 

 throughout West Indies. Not recorded from any part of the Western United States. 



^ Ionornis parva (Bodd.). 



La Favorite, dc Cayenne, Buff. PI. Enl. 897. 



Fulica parva, Bonn. Tabl. P. E. 1783 (ex PI. Enl. 897). —Gallinula parva, Schleg. — Por- 

 phyria parvus, ScL. & Salv. p. Z. S. 1868, 460, fig. 

 Gallinula flavirostris, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 699. — Glaucestes flavirostris, Reiohenb. 



