PORPHYRIO (LERULEUS. 247 



Bill reddish at base, longer than the head, and slender. ' 



Above brown, blotched with black ; below slaty blue ; axillaries, belly, 



and flanks black, barred with white ; legs and feet brown. Length 10 



inches. 



273. Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus). The "Waterhen or 



Moorhen. 



Moorish. Zelga-kahla (Favier). Spanish. Polla de agua. 



The Moorhen, according to Favier, is " resident in the vicinity 

 of Tangier, being met with in abundance ; many, however, are 

 migratory." 



It is needless to say much about a bird so well known as our 

 Common English Waterhen. They are not so common in 

 Andalucia as the Spotted Crake ; but I was unable to detect any 

 migratory habits on the Spanish side of the Straits, where they 

 are tolerably plentiful and generally distributed in all suitable 

 localities, often being seen about the gardens at the edge of the 

 small stream at Algeciraz and at Vejer, seeming, as in England, 

 to be fond of living in the vicinity of houses and cultivation. 

 They nest about the end of April. 



General colour above olive-brown, below greyish black ; scarlet frontal 

 plate in adult, greenish brown in the young ; legs and feet greenish. 

 Length 13 inches. 



274. Porphyrio cseruleus (Vandelli). The Purple Waterhen. 



Moorish. Kazeid (Reid). Spanish. Mancon aziil, Calamon. 



"This bird is chiefly migratory, and not common near Tangier, 

 passing north during the months of February and March, and 

 returning in December and October. They are occasionally to 

 be seen during the month of January, but not every year. Those 

 which remain for the breeding-season construct their nests in the 

 midst of wet sedges or rushes, depositing, in April, from three to 

 five eggs. When these birds are moulting they are very easy to 

 obtain, as they lose all their quill-feathers at once, and so cannot 

 fly." Favier. 



