WATER BIRDS. 161 



83. Purple Gallinule. lonornis martinicus {Linn.). (218) 



Synonyms: Sultana (Jamaica). — Fulica martinica, Linn., 1766. — Gallinnla martinica, 

 Lath., Aud., Nutt., Baird. — Gallinula porphyrio, Wils., 1824. — Porphyrio americanus, 

 Swains., 1837. — lonornis martinica, Reich., 1853, Ridgw., 1881, Coues, 1882. 



The light blue wings, dark blue head, neck, and breast, green-tipped 

 red bill, and yellow legs, form a combination which makes the adult un- 

 mistakable. The young might be confused with those of the Common 

 Gallinule. 



Distribution. — South Atlantic and Gulf States, casually northward to 

 Maine, New York, Wisconsin, etc.; south through the West Indies, Mexico, 

 Central America, and northern South America to Brazil. 



There are but three or four records for this species in Michigan, so far 

 as we know, and none is entirely satisfactory. Stockwell says "Accidental 

 visitor in Michigan" (Forest & Stream, VIIT, 361); Covert has a marginal 

 note in his copy of Coues Key to the effect that a male was taken at Ann 

 Arbor, August 12, 1879, but he does not remember any of the particulars 

 of this capture, and the specimen cannot be located; ]Mr. B. H. Swales, 

 of Detroit, Avrites under date of December 15, 1906 "There is a record that 

 Dr. J. H. Garner of Lucknow, Ont., saw a Purple Gallinule at St. Clair Flats 

 about ten years ago (about 1883) that was killed by some boys and examined 

 by him but not preserved" (Biol. Rev. of Ont., Jan. 1894, p. 11). Campion 

 (of Detroit) also says that he has mounted one specimen of the Purple 

 Gallinule "from the Flats." 



There are several records for Ontario, the most recent being that by 

 A. B. Klugh, who states that one was taken in Wellington Co., Ontario, 

 near Guelph, about 1894 (Ont. Nat. Sci. Bull. I, 3). 



In view of the abundance of the Florida or Common Gallinule, and the 

 further fact that that bird is hardly known at all to the average sportsman, 

 it seems likely that the newspaper reports and occasional notes in sporting 

 magazines refer to the Common Gallinule rather than to the present species, 

 especially as the Common Gallinule in full plumage always shows more or 

 less purple gloss which would tend to deceive the amateur. The bird is 

 abundant in Florida and the Gulf States where it associates with the 

 Common Gallinule and s^ems to have much the same habits. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



"Adult: Head, neck, and lower parts slaty bluish purple, darker on the belly and thighs; 

 lower tail-coverts white; upper parts bright olive-green, changing to bright verditer blue 

 toward the purple of the lower ])arts; wings brighter green than black, shaded with bright 

 verditer blue; frontal sliicld dusky or bluish; bill bright red, tipped with yellow. Young: 

 Above light brown, tinged witli greenish on wings; beneatli pale fulvous or buffy, the 

 belly whitish; bill dull yellowish, and frontal shield much smaller than in adult. 



Length 12.50 to 14.00 inches; wing 7.00 to 7.50; culmen (including frontal shield) 

 L85 to 1.95; tarsus 2.25 to 2.50; middle toe 2.25 to 2.35." (Ridgway). 



84. Florida Gallinule. Gallinula galeata (Lichi.). (219) 



Synonyms: (iallinule, Conuiion (lallinulc, Water Hen, Mud Hen (St. Clair Flats and 

 Detroit River), Red-billed Mud Hen.— Cre.x galeata, Licht., 1818.— Gallinula galeata of 

 authors generally. — Gallinula chloropus, Bonap., 1828, Aud.; 1835. 



Figures 44 c^'^d J^B. 

 Readily known by the general slate color, with the white under tail- 

 coverts and a few white stripes along the sides. The red bill and the green 

 21 



