SULTANA. 377 



SULTANA.* 



(Martinico Gattinule. WILS.) 

 Porphyrio Martinica. 



Gallinula Martinica , GMEL. Aud. pi. 305. 



Gallinula cyanocollis. VIEILL. 



Porphyrio tavoua, Ibid. 



Porphyrio Martinica, G. R. GRAY. 



THIS magnificent bird is not uncommon in some 

 of the lowland ponds and marshy rivers of Jamaica. 

 The road from Savannah le Mar to Negril, passes 

 through the immense swamp of the Cabarita River, 

 the tall and dense rushes of which form a wall 

 on each side of the way, which in the wet season 

 is overflowed. Riding there one day in January, 

 I saw a Sultana walking in the middle of the 

 road; a horseman had passed an instant before, 

 who certainly had not disturbed it ; and on my 

 approach it took no more notice than a common 

 fowl, sauntering about, and picking here and there ; 

 allowing me to come within three or four feet 

 of it. I stopped and gazed at it, and at length 

 made a noise and a sudden motion with my hands ; 

 but it merely half-opened the wings, and gave 

 a little start, exactly as a chicken would do, but 



* Length \1\ inches, expanse 21|, flexure 6^, tail 2|, rictus 1-j^, 

 breadth of shield ^, height from base of lower mandible to point of 

 shield, 1 inch, tarsus 3, middle toe 3. Hind claw largest. 



