POIIPILYRIO. 179 



Doiq, S. F. viii, p. 371; Leyge, Birds CeyL p. 795 ; 'Binyham, 



F. ix, p. 197 ; Parker, ibid. p. 483 ; id. Ibis, 1883, p. 194 ; 1886, 



. 187 ; Barnes, S. F. ix, p. 459 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 72 ; Davidson, 



vi, p. 135, fig. 902 (egg) ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 326 ; St. John, 

 Ibis, 1889, p. 177 ; Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 384 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 197. 



Porphyrio neglectus, Schfeyel, Mus. Pays-Bas, v, Ralli, p. 53 (1865) ; 

 Hume, N. $ E. p. 691 j id. S. F. i, pp. 125, 136, 249 ; Hume $ 

 Oates, S. F. iii, p. 181 



Kaim, Kalim, Kharim, Khima, II.; Nila boli-kodi, Tel.; K'dtala, 

 Cing. ; Indura-kukula, dp. (S. Province) ; Sanmiry, Tarn., Ceylon. 



Fig. 39. Head of P. poliocephalus (from above). }. 



Coloration. Head pale brownish grey, tinged with cobalt on 

 cheeks and throat, and passing on the nape into the deep purplish 

 lilac of the hind neck, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wings 

 outside, scapulars, and breast light greenish blue ; abdomen and 

 flanks like the back; wing- and tail -leathers black, blue on the 

 exposed portions ; under tail-coverts white. No immature plumage; 

 nestlings on leaving the egg are clad in black down like other Rails 

 and Water-hens. The grey of the head is due, partly at all events, 

 to the wearing away of the feathers. 



Bill and casque deep red, tinged brown in places ; iricles deep 

 red ; legs and feet pale rod, brown at joints (Davison}. 



Length 17; tail 3'75 ; wing 10; tarsus 3'2; bill from gape 

 1*5. Females are rather smaller. 



Distribution. Throughout the plains of India, Ceylon, and 

 Burma, in suitable localities. This bird is replaced in the Malay 

 Peninsula and to the eastward by different species, but ranges 

 throughout South-western Asia to the Caspian. 



Habits, $c. The Purple Moorhen or, as Jerdon calls it, the 

 Purple Coot (but it is far more like a Moorhen than a Coot), 

 is found on large pieces of water tanks, marshes, or rivers 

 portions of which are thickly covered by high reeds or bushes ; 

 amongst these the bird makes its way, clinging to the reeds and 

 twigs with its huge feet like a gigantic Grass-Warbler. It has, 

 according to Jerdon, a fowl-like call, and it cortainly is given to 

 cackling. Its food is mainly vegetable, and it commits great havoc 



N 2 



