Birds of Indiana. 681 



Dr. Coues gives the size of some eggs in the Smithsonian Institution 

 as 1.05 by .80. The eggs are much larger in proportion to the size of 

 the bird than are those of the Yellow Rail, and they differ from the 

 eggs of that species and of the Sora, which have, respectively, bufEy- 

 brown and drab ground color. 



Subfamily GALLINULIN^E. Gallinules. 

 39. Genus IONORNIS Reichenbach. 



81. (218). lonornis martinica (Linn.). 



Purple Gallinule. 



Head, neck and under parts, beautiful purplish-blue, blackening on 

 the belly, the crissum white; above, olivaceous green, the cervix 

 and wing coverts tinted with blue; frontal shield, blue; bill, red, 

 tipped with yellow; legs, yellowish. Immature. — With the head, neck 

 and lower back, brownish; the under parts, mostly white, mixed with 

 ochrey. 



Length, 12.50-14.00; wing, 7.00-7.50; bill (including frontal shield), 

 1.85-1.95; tarsus, 2.25-2.50. 



Range. — America, from Brazil north to South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, casually to Ontario, Maine, northern Ohio, northern Illinois, 

 Wisconsin and Missouri. Breeds northward to southern Illinois and 

 South Carolina. Winters from Florida south. 



Nest, built among rushes over the water; the taller rushes are bent 

 down and woven together as a support; or on ground in marshes. 

 Eggs, 8-9; cream color, finely dotted with chestnut-brown and umber; 

 size, 1.55 by 1.13. 



Rare visitor in spring and perhaps summer resident. 



This bird has been taken in southern Indiana but a few times, and 

 has never been reported north of the latitude of Indianapolis, though 

 both in Ohio and Illinois it reaches their northern boundary. So far as 

 I have information, the occurrences have all been in the spring, and 

 are either wanderers beyond their customary breeding range or rare 

 summer residents in suitable situations. They could hardly be mi- 

 grants going much farther north, as northern Indiana is nearly, if 

 not quite, the limit of their breeding range. There is no record 

 of its occurrence in Michigan. The first record for Indiana was taken 

 near Brookville in the spring of 1880. Mr. E. L. Guthrie took a 

 specimen in Decatur County in May, 1883. Mr. W. C. DeWitt notes 

 two specimens taken in Wayne County. Mr. E. W. Nelson tells that 

 Mr. C. N. Holden, Jr., took a male near Chicago in May, 1866, and 

 speaks, upon Dr. Ho/s authority, of a specimen taken near Racine, 

 Wis. 



