OCCASIONAL NOTES. 881 
was proved to be a wild and genuine migrant because its plumage showed 
no signs of confinement, for the Purple Gallinule is one of those species 
which would least show marks of captivity, and to which much greater 
space and freedom are accorded than to many others. Even were this not 
the case, I can recall to memory many instances of birds in confinement in 
perfect plumage; and to cite but one, I may mention a young Golden 
Eagle taken from the nest on the 4th May, and killed, in default of a 
purchaser, by one of my Spanish collectors, in September, in which nearly 
every feather is like satin—a beauty never approached by any wild bird 
I ever saw, and I think the experience of my friend Mr. E. Hargitt, who 
now possesses it, will confirm mine. As for escaping from an enclosure, 
or anything short of an absolute cage, few birds could do so with greater 
facility, for this Gallinule can climb like a cat, whilst its skulking habits 
might enable it to remain unnoticed till all traces, if any, of captivity had 
passed away, and even till the clipped feathers in one wing had been 
replaced by new ones. To sum up, it seems to me that there are few 
European species less likely to have come to England of their own accord 
than the Purple Gallinule; but I will give Mr. Mathew the benefit of a 
suggestion as to the origin of the individual captured in Somersetshire. It 
is well known that the Romans kept these birds in captivity: they may 
have brought some to Britain. Bath was a Roman colony, and the court- 
yard of some Pro-consul of Aique-salis may have been enlivened with the 
imperial purple hues of this beautiful southern species. When the Roman 
power waned and “the heathen” poured across the Severn, necessitating 
those “great battles in the west” of which our Laureate has sung, the 
neglected Gallinules would naturally seek refuge, and also food (for probably 
at such times their owners forgot to feed them), in the peaceful marshes of 
the Parrett. Increase of population and drainage would in later times 
have diminished their numbers, and in the bird in question we have perhaps 
the last descendant of the original invaders, which, after 1400 years of 
occupation by its “forbears,” may fairly lay claim to naturalization. On 
this supposition, and on this only, I should be inclined to admit that it has 
a claim to be considered a ‘‘ British” bird.—Howarp Saunpsrs (7, Radnor 
Place, Hyde Park, W.). 
Purpte GALLINULE In LancasHirE.—Since the discussion in ‘The 
Zoologist,’ as to whether it is possible that a Purple Gallinule found at 
large in this country may or may not be a bond fide visitor and not an 
escaped bird, I have made further enquiries with reference to the specimen 
shot on the 25th September, 1876, at Grange-over-Sands, North Lanca- 
shire, to which you allude in the May number of ‘ The Zoologist’ (p. 228). 
Allan, the gamekeeper, who shot it, tells me that he saw it frequently for a 
month previously to any attempt on his part to shoot it. Generally it was 
in company with a large covey of Partridges, feeding on the stubbles, and 
