BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 



217 



PURPLE GALLINULE {lonornis martinicus) . 



Length. — About 13.50 inches. 



Adult. — Back bright shining oUve green; wings deeper green, shaded with 

 blue; head, neck and breast rich bluish purple; belly darker; frontal 

 shield on forehead blue; under tail coverts white; bill carmine, tipped 

 with yellow; feet yellow. 



Yoimg. — ^ Browner above; mostly white below; no red on bill. 



Notes. — Resemble the delicate whistling of the Blue-winged Teal (Audubon), 



Range. — Tropical and subtropical America. Breeds from Texas, Tennessee, 

 and South Carolina south to Ecuador and Paraguay; winters from 

 Texas, Louisiana and Florida southward; irregularly north in summer 

 to Arizona, Nebraska;, Wisconsin, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and 

 New Brunswick; accidental in England and Bermuda. 



History. 

 This elegant Gallinule is a wanderer from the south, and 

 probably straggles into all the New England States occasion- 

 ally. Col. Nicolas Pike states that it was "formerly very 



