144 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Subfamily GALLINULIN^. Gallinules. 

 Genus lONORNIS Reichenbach. 



218. lonornis mart'mka (Linn.). Purple Gallinule. 



Pliimage of adults : a bare bluish shield or plate on front of crown ; head, 

 neck and lower parts rich bluish purple, darker on belly ; back glossy olive 

 green ; wings light blue with a greenish tinge ; bill red with yellow tip ; 

 legs yellow ; under tail coverts white. Immature plumage : bill dull yellow 

 and frontal bare spot smaller ; mottled with white below, washed with brown- 

 ish above. Downy young: said to be uniform black with numerous hair 

 like feathers of white on the head ; base of bill yellowish and end black. 

 Wing 7.00 to 8.00 ; culmen including to rear of frontal shield 1.95 ; tarsus 

 2.35. 



Geog. Dist. — South Atlantic and Gulf States, breeding north to South 

 Carolina and Illinois ; winters from Florida to Brazil ; casual as a straggler 

 to Maine, New York and Wisconsin. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; one taken at South Lewiston by John 

 Turner, April 11, 1897, (C. D. Farrar). Hancock ; one taken at Winter Har- 

 bor, Mt. Desert, November 7, 1899, (Swain, J. M. 0. S. 1900, p. 34). Knox; 

 (Rackliff). Lincoln ; one taken at Boothbay, (Purdie B. N. O. C. 5, 173). 

 Washington; accidental, (Boardman). 



Occasionally stray individuals of this southern species strag- 

 gle into Maine for some unknown reason. Ten eggs from 

 Avery's Island, Louisiana, May 6, 1895, measure L63 x 1.16, 

 1.52 X 1.16, 1.50 X 1.14, 1.47 x 1.13, 1.55 x 1.15, L55 x 1.11, 

 1.51 X 1.14, 1.58 x 1.13, 1.54 x 1.15, 1.56 x 1.15. The nest 

 was a platform of rushes woven in the shape of a shallow 

 basket, suspended and woven into rushes growing around an 

 "alligator hole" in a marsh. The eggs are muddy white, 

 sparsely spotted chiefly about the larger end with smallish dots 

 of brown and umber. 



Both species of Gallinules are good swimmers and also adepts 

 at walking or skulking over and through the rushes and reeds. 

 Their habits are rail-like in many ways and their flight is sim- 

 ilar to that of the Rails, being low, quavering and hesitating. 

 Their cry is a peculiar "cluk". During the breeding season 

 they are very vociferous and the marsh or bog-hole which is 

 their home resounds with their clucks and calls. 



