584 THE PURPLE GALL1NULE. 



and fell forward into the same kind of fit. This was again repeated, with like results. The 

 editor of this edition has seen the Florida gallinule perform similar actions, which are probably 

 akin to the feigning death among other birds, and insects. 



THE LITTLE YELLOW RAIL (Porzana noveboracensis) is found in all parts of eastern 

 North America, and north to Hudson's Bay. It is nowhere abundant. Winters in the 

 Southern States. 



THE LITTLE BLACK RAIL (Porzana jamaicensis) is found from Central America to New 

 Jersey, although exceedingly rare out of the tropics. It is quite small, being about the size 

 of a full -sized hen's chicken at hatching. The editor of this edition captured several at the 

 Dry Tortugas, where they evidently came during migration, as great numbers of other species 

 of birds did also. 



Another variety, called Farallone Rail, is placed on the list of North American birds, 

 probably from the fact of stragglers being seen. 



PURPLE GALLINULE (lonornis martinica). This elegant bird is native of the more tropical 

 parts of America. In Florida it is common. Its length is about fourteen inches. 



Audubon writes: "The Purple Gallinule is a constant resident in the United States, 

 although peculiar to our Southern Districts, where I have met with it at all seasons. It is in. 

 the Floridas, the lower parts of Alabama, and among the broad marshes bordering on the Gulf 

 of Mexico, in lower Louisiana, that I have observed its habits. Beyond the Carolinas, east- 

 ward, it is only met with as an accidental straggler. It never, I believe, ascends the Missis- 

 sippi beyond Memphis, where, indeed, it is but rarely seen ; but between Natchez and the 

 mouths of the great river, it is abundant on all the retired bayous and small lakes. The 

 southern portions of Georgia are also furnished with it, but in South Carolina it is rare. 

 Proceeding northwestward along the Gulf of Mexico, I have found it as far as Texas, where 

 it breeds, as well as in Louisiana, where I observed it coming from the South, in May. 



" Having studied the habits of this bird under every advantage in Louisiana, and especially 

 in the neighborhood of New Orleans and the mouths of the Mississippi, I will now describe 

 the results of my observation. In the summer months, the Purple Gallinules remove with 

 their broods to the prairies, or large savannas bordering the bayous or lakes on which they 

 have bred, and remain in those places, which are generally covered with thick and tall grass, 

 until the beginning of September, when the vegetation having been dried up by the intense 

 heat and drought, neither food nor sufficient concealment can be obtained. The young birds- 

 usually abandon these plains first, and while the color of their plumage is still green, instead of 

 purplish-blue, which tint, however, is assumed before the return of spring. During all this 

 while, its notes are as frequently heard as during their breeding season. They resemble the 

 delicate, whistling sounds of the blue-winged teal during its residence with us. At this season, 

 also, its flesh is best, although it never equals that of the Fresh-water Marsh-hen (Jialluf 

 elegans), or of the Sora Rail (Rallus carolinus). 



" On the approach of winter, all the Purple Gallinules leave the savannas, and betake 

 themselves to the immediate vicinity of ponds, bayous, or rivers, where, through experience, 

 they become shy, vigilant, and cunning. They seldom remove from one place to another, or 

 travel at all unless by night, although in sequestered parts they feed both on land and on the 

 water by day. 



"The Purple Gallinule breeds at a remarkably early period of the year. I have found 

 young birds in their jetty -down clothing in February, and they have been observed in the 

 same month by the keepers of the light-house at the northwest pass of the Mississippi, at Key 

 "West, and in other places. The parent birds are sometimes so very intent on saving their 

 young, as to suffer themselves to be caught. At this period, their calls are almost incessantly 

 heard during the whole night, and are elicited during the day by any musical or remarkable 

 noise. The nest is generally placed among a kind of rushes that are green at all seasons, 

 round, very pithy, rarely more than five feet high, and grow more along the margins of ponds. 



