198 THE PURPLE WATERHEN 



of each of them had to be reckoned in stones avoir- 

 dupois. 



XL VII 



The purple waterhen (Porphyrio cceruleus) was 

 The Purple admitted by the late Lord Lilford to his 

 waterhen gallery of British bird portraits on evidence 

 which satisfied him that the species had bred in a state 

 of liberty in Norfolk. Ornithologists in general, how- 

 ever, decline to regard this gallinule as more than an 

 escape from captivity ; but although it is a native of the 

 Mediterranean region and the Persian Gulf, the fine 

 bird seems to take kindly to our cooler climate, and 

 probably requires little encouragement to become 

 thoroughly acclimatised. It is a really desirable addi- 

 tion to our avifauna ; its plumage, chiefly of rich violet 

 with blue-and-green reflections, contrasts vividly with 

 the carmine bill and legs ; and its habits, by no means 

 retiring, render it a conspicuous ornament on suitable 

 sheets of water. But it is a voracious feeder ; no small 

 pond or brook would supply enough suitable food, and 

 its manner of feeding is peculiar. One morning lately 

 I watched a pair of them through the glass on our lake 

 sanctuary, where they have made themselves quite at 

 home since early spring. They have made their haunt 

 in an extensive bed of Scirpus lacustris, that dark 

 green, smooth rush, which in Scotland is erroneously 

 termed bulrush, and a pretty mess they have made of 

 it. They have beaten and broken down rushes to 

 enable them to wade on a floating mass ; standing on 



