504 Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker on the Breeding 



of a rich velvet-black down, with a few filamentary feathers 

 {filopluma) ou the head and wings, while the bill and frontal 

 shield are white, with a little red round the nostrils and base 

 of the bill. The iris is of a dark slate-colour. The legs and 

 feet are of a rosy flesh-colour, and not white, as erroneously 

 stated by some authors, who perhaps may only have had the 

 opportunity of observing unborn chicks, taken from the egg, 

 the legs of these being in fact white in that stage. 



The pollex, or first digit of the wing, in the young of this 

 species is highly developed, and bears a sharp and well- 

 pronounced claw at its extremity. After a month or so the 

 plumage of the young birds, although still in down, assumes 

 a more dingy or smoky-black colour in place of the rich 

 velvet-black, and some whitish down appears on the lower 

 parts and under tail-coverts ; the bill becomes black instead 

 of white, and the legs and feet exchange their rosy flesh- 

 colour for a leaden-grey brown ; the iris at this period is 

 olive-brown. Up to the time of my writing, the plumage of 

 these young birds, which are now about two months old, 

 shows no blue colour, and this will probably not appear until 

 the contour-feathers are assumed, when the bill and frontal 

 shield, as well as the legs and feet, will, no doubt, also 

 become red. 



The eggs of the Purple Galiinule, of which I have a good 

 series from Vittoria, on the south coast of Sicily, are of a 

 warm buff' or yellowish stone ground-coloui-, with shell-spots 

 and blotches of greyish violet and surface-markings of 

 reddish brown. Tiiey are generally rather elongated in 

 shape, and measui-e from 55 to 60 mm. in length by 35 to 

 40 mm. in width. The nest of this bird in its wild state, I 

 am told, is a rude structure, somewhat resembling that of 

 the Common Moorhen, and is generally to be found in the 

 thickest part of some dense growth of flags or other aquatic 

 plants. The nests of the birds in my garden were all made 

 of the dry leaves of the bamboo, loosely put together, and 

 placed at the foot of a clump of these plants. In its natural 

 state the Purple Galliuule commences breeding about the 

 end of March, and nesting is continued until June, during 

 which month 1 have even had fresh eggs sent to me. 



