202 WADING BIRDS. 



short wings as those which characterize the genus would make 

 the attempt to travel any considerable distance over sea while 

 a route by land equally favorable for the purpose offered. 

 Little reliance, therefore, is to be placed upon these accidents 

 as proving the maritime migratory habits of birds. Several 

 hundred miles from land, towards the close of last June (1833), 

 in the latitude of the Capes of Virginia, the vessel in which I 

 was sailing for the port of New York was visited by two or 

 three unfortunate Swallows, who, overcome by hunger and 

 fatigue, alighted for a while on the rigging of our ship, 

 whence they, in all probability, proceeded farther out to sea 

 and perished. At this season of the year they could not be 

 migrating, but had wandered out upon the barren bosom of 

 the deceiving ocean, and would, in consequence of exhaustion 

 and famine, soon after fall a prey to the remorseless deep. 



The Martinico Gallinule while in the Southern States fre- 

 quents the rice-fields, rivulets, and fresh-water pools in com- 

 pany with the more common Florida species. It is a vigorous 

 and active bird, bites hard when irritated, runs with agility, and 

 has the faculty, like the Sultanas, of holding on objects very 

 firmly with its toes, which are extremely long, and spread to a 

 great extent. When walking, it jerks its tail like a common 

 Gallinule. In its native marshes it is very shy and vigilant ; 

 and continually eluding pursuit, can be flushed only with the 

 aid of a dog. 



This richly apparelled and beautiful bird is found regularly and 

 is quite common in all the Southern and Gulf States, and stragglers 

 are frequently seen northward to New England and westward to 

 Wisconsin. The only examples reported from Canada have been 

 taken in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. These birds do not 

 leave the United States in winter, as Nuttall supposed ; they are 

 found in the South throughout the year. 



They are called " Sultanas " in Jamaica, where Mr. Gosse found 

 them quite common ; and this writer states that those he saw were 

 extremely indifferent to his approach, allowing him to walk to 

 within a few feet of where they were feeding, without manifesting 

 any fear. 



Audubon states that after the brood is hatched the family retires 



