PURPLE GALLINULE FLORIDA GALLINULE. 123 



SUBFAMILY GALLINULIN^E. 



GENUS IONORNIS REICHENBACH. 



IONORNIS MARTINICA (LINN.). 



85. Purple Gallinule. (218) 



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. 

 Young: With the head, neck and lower back brownish, the under parts mostly 

 white, mixed with ochrey. Length, 10-12; wing, 6J-7; tail, 2^-3; bill from 

 gape, about !; tarsus, about 2; middle-toe and claw, about 3. 



HAB. South Atlantic and Gulf States, north casually to New England 

 (Maine, Nova Scotia) and Ontario. 



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

 woven together as a support. 



Eggs, eight or nine, cream color, finely dotted with chestnut -brown and 

 umber. 



In April, 1892, I received a letter from Pickering, describing a 

 bird which had recently been shot by Mr. James Cowan, at the 

 mouth of the Rouge in that township, and asking me to identify it. 

 The description was so perfectly correct that I had no difficulty in 

 deciding it to be the Purple Gallinule, though I had not before heard 

 of its occurrence in Ontario, and I replied to that effect. 



I have since learned that the specimen is now mounted and located 

 somewhere in Toronto. 



This beautiful Gallinule is a resident of the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf States, but occasionally strays as far north as Ohio, Wisconsin, 

 Maine and New York. 



It is a very handsome bird, whose presence in our marshes would 

 add to their interest, but we are too far north to expect it, save as a 

 very rare visitor. 



GEXUS GALLINULA BRISSON. 

 GALLINULA GALEATA (LIGHT.). 



86. Florida Gallinule. (219) 



Head, neck and under parts grayish-black, darkest on the former, paler or 

 whitening on the belly; back, brownish-olive; wings and tail dusky; crissum 

 edge of wing, and stripes on the flank, white; bill, frontal plate, and ring 

 around tibiae red, the former tipped with yellow; tarsi and toes, greenish; 12-15 

 long ; wing, 6J-7^ ; tail, 3^ ; gape of bill, about 1^ ; tarsus, about 2. 



