THE BEAUTIFUL PORPHYRIO 85 



enable his friends to recognise him when the}' met him ! 

 But this is a digression. 



The Greeks were well acquainted with a near relative 

 of the Indian porph\Tio, which the}' kept in confine- 

 ment. " For a wonder," writes Finn, *' they did not 

 keep it to eat, but because they credited it with a 

 strong aversion to breaches of the conjugal tie in its 

 owTier's household." He adds : " Considering the 

 state of morahty among the wealthier Romans, I fear 

 that accidents must often have happened to pet 

 porph\Tios." 



The purple moor-hen is a study in shades of art blue 

 — a bird which should appeal strongly to Messrs. 

 Liberty and Co. Its bill, which is not flat hke that of 

 a duck, but rounded, is bright red, as is the large 

 triangular shield on the forehead. Its long legs and 

 toes are a paler red. The plumage is thus described 

 by Blanford : " Head pale, brownish gre\', tinged with 

 cobalt on cheeks and throat, and passing on the nape 

 into the deep purphsh lilac of the hind neck, back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wings outside, scapu- 

 lars and breast Hght greenish blue ; abdomen and 

 flanks hke the back ; the wing and tail-coverts black, 

 blue on the exposed portions ; imder tail-coverts 

 white." 



So striking a bird is this coot, that it cannot fail to 

 arrest one's attention. Many sportsmen seem unable 

 to resist the temptation of shooting it. Mr. Edgar 

 Thurston informs me that a cold weather never passes 

 without some sportsman sending him a specimen of 

 Porphyria polioccphalus for the Madras Museum. They 



