38 PURPLE GALLINULE. 
they wander, guided by their affectionate parent, until it becomes ex- 
pedient for the party to disperse. 
The Purple Gallinule is a constant resident in the United States, 
although peculiar to their southern districts, where I have met with it 
at all seasons. It is in the Floridas, the lower parts of Alabama, and 
among the broad marshes bordering the Gulf of Mexico, in Lower 
Louisiana, that I have observed its habits. Beyond the Carolinas 
eastward, it is only met with as an accidental straggler. It never, I 
believe, ascends the Mississippi beyond Memphis, where indeed it is 
but rarely seen; but between Natchez and the mouths of the great 
river, it is abundant on all the retired bayous and small lakes. The 
southern portions of Georgia are also furnished with it; but in South 
Carolina it is rare. Proceeding southwestward along the Gulf of 
Mexico, I have found it as far as Texas, where it breeds, as well as in 
Louisiana, where I observed it coming from the south in May 1837. 
Having studied the habits of this bird under every advantage in 
Louisiana, and especially in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, and 
the mouths of the Mississippi, I will now, good Reader, place before 
you the results of my observation. In the summer months, the Purple 
Gallinules remove with their broods to the prairies or large savannahs 
bordering the bayous or lakes on which they have bred, and remain in 
those places, which are generally covered with thick and tall grass, 
until the beginning of September, when the vegetation having been 
dried up by the intense heat and drought, neither food nor sufficient 
concealment can be obtained. The young birds usually abandon these 
plains first, and while the colour of their plumage is still green, instead 
of purplish-blue, which tint, however, is assumed before the return of 
spring. During all this while, its notes are as frequently heard as 
during the breeding season. They resemble the delicate whistling 
sounds of the Blue-winged Teal during its residence with us. At this 
season also its flesh is best, although it never equals that of the Fresh- 
water Marsh-hen, Rallus elegans, or of the Sora Rail, Rallus carolinus. 
On the approach of winter, all the Purple Gallinules leave the sa- 
vannahs, and betake themselves to the immediate vicinity of ponds, 
bayous, or rivers, where through experience they become shy, vigilant, 
and cunning. ‘They seldom remove from one place to another, or tra- 
vel at all, unless by night, although in sequestered parts they feed both 
on land and on the water by day. 
