1903 The Green-backed Gallinule 57 



it to be not ccerulcus but melanotics. As to no representatives 

 of either form of Purple Pallinules having been seen at light- 

 ships or other migrational observation stations, this no more 

 militates against their occasionally visiting our shores spon- 

 taneously than the failure of other rare migrants to put in an 

 appearance at such places invalidates their claim to be in- 

 cluded in our list of occasional visitors. Mr J. H. Gurney 

 also writes me: "As long ago as 1869 I saw four P. 

 ccerulcus at Boulogne Museum, said to have been killed in 

 the Pas de Calais, and at that time they were seldom 

 kept in confinement." 



We now come to the fourth objection, that " many of 

 these birds are annually imported to our shores, and that 

 probably, therefore, all that have been seen or killed here 

 have merely been "escapes" — Porphyrios being, on account 

 of their climbing powers, most difficult birds to confine, and 

 their deceptively bulky appearance, in spite of their rail-like 

 compressed sternum and ribs (the probable derivation of our 

 simile "as thin as a rail"), which is a natural provision for, 

 or an evolved consequence of, their life amidst dense and 

 rank vegetation, which structural modification may delude 

 their owners into attempting to enclose them with prison 

 bars too wide apart, or wire mesh too large. 



In the first place, how is it to be accounted for, if they 

 were escapes, that so few were claimed although so widely 

 advertised as " found " in the various Natural History period- 

 icals ? Those persons who attempt such acclimatisation 

 would be the very people to read these journals, or at least 

 to be in touch with those who do. Again, if escapes, how is 

 it that only one out of the thirty-six examples has shown the 

 slightest sign of previous possible captivity ? It is easy to 

 say that those who keep such birds allow them so much 

 range and liberty that no trace of confinement in condition, 

 feather, beak, or feet is likely to occur, and that such 

 abrasions, if brought about, would rapidly disappear upon 

 their gaining liberty. Damage to the soft or bare parts of 

 the body might disappear, but worn or broken feathers would 

 not " grow up " until the whole of the injured item of plum- 

 age had been moulted. Further, if escapes, it is, to say the 



