PURPLE GALLINULE— SAND-GROUSE 79 



they feed on insects, molluscs, and frogs. Stilts walk in a peculiarly mincing and 

 leisurely manner, carrying the body horizontally. In flight they move the wings 

 slowly, bending their tips downwards; they hold the legs out straight when flying 

 strong, but let them dangle when they hover. The great length of the legs is 

 always sufficient to distinguish a stilt, either on the ground or in the air. In 

 length these birds measure about 14 inches. In colour the tail is grey, the under- 

 pays and lower half of the back are white, the mantle and wings greenish black, 

 the feet pink, and the beak black. 



, „ „. , With the bare mention that the two kinds of European bustards 



Purple Gallinule. 



range into the Mediterranean area, as does Macqueen's bustard which 

 is principally indigenous to the Caspian region, we pass on to the rail tribe, of which 

 the central European species are found in the area under consideration partly 

 as migratory, partly as breeding birds, while the brighter coloured gallinules are 

 represented by the purple species. These birds are characterised by the presence of 

 a horny plate covering the front and crown of the head, as well as \>y the relatively 

 deep beak, of which the edges are notched, and the rather long hind-toe. The 

 gallinules, of which there are about twenty kinds, are distributed over the warmer 

 countries of both hemispheres, and distinguished from their near relatives the coots, 

 which they approach in their habits, by the blue coloration of their plumage. 

 The Mediterranean species (Porphyrio cceruleus) frequents swamps and marshy 

 localities in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and the 

 Caspian district south of the Terek. It arrives in its breeding-area towards the 

 end of April, and leaves again in September, a few individuals remaining in 

 certain suitable places. Although resembling the coot in its habits, the gallinule 

 has a more stately walk, and contracts the long red toes at every step, and spreads 

 them out as they descend. The slender red legs, which hang down during its 

 short flights, make the bird conspicuous from a distance. The gallinule is 

 an expert swimmer and diver, generally seen on the water, but spending much of 

 its time on land lurking among the vegetation, and in spring robbing other birds' 

 nests of their eggs or young. Its own nest is generally placed in situations difficult 

 of access, where it is concealed amid reeds or growing rice ; not unfrequently it is 

 floating on the water. From its relatives the true coots the purple gallinule differs 

 by the circumstance that it feeds its young, which are soon able to swim and 

 dive. It is 18 inches long, and in colour is deep rich blue, the sides of the 

 head, throat, and upper part of the breast light blue, and the under tail-coverts 

 white. 



Representing a very different family, the sand-grouse, which are 



mostly birds of the Mediterranean countries, are distinguished by long 

 and pointed wings, a rounded or wedge-like tail, and feathered feet. In structure 

 they approximate to the pigeons on the one hand and to the game-birds on the other. 

 The large sand-grouse (Pterocles arenarius) inhabits northern Africa from Morocco 

 to Tripoli, the south-western districts of the Asiatic part of the Mediterranean 

 region as far as India, and the countries round the Black and Caspian Seas and 

 the Sea of Aral. In Spain both this species and the pin-tailed sand-grouse occur, 

 although each has a province of its own, the two species being apparently inimical 

 to each another. Sometimes the large sand-grouse strays into other countries of 



