KALLID^. 283 



around his house is intersected by numerous ditches, many of them 

 screened on either side by stiff bLicli:thorn bushes,, and it was in one of 

 these ditches that his old sheep-dog, a very clever retriever, caught the 

 bird alive, and brought it to him perfectly uninjured, on 25th August, 

 1875. He kept it alive for several days, when it died, presumably of 

 starvation, and was then forwarded to a ]3ristol bird-stuffer, who set it up 

 very cleverly. We could see no signs upon it of captivity ; its plumage 

 was perfect, none of the feathers being in the least abraded, and as there 

 are no ornamental pieces of water anywhere within a great many miles 

 where rare and valuable water- fowl are kept, we can only look upon this 

 specimen as having reached our coast through " an assisted passage." 

 Another of these beautiful Gallinules, also without any marks of ever 

 having been in confinement, and in perfect plumage, which was shot many 

 years ago in Ireland, is in our collection, and may have arrived on the 

 Irish coast in a similar manner. It is singular that, as yet, none of these 

 Parple Gallinules have been reported from the South Devon Leys, which 

 might have been expected to attract any that had landed on the Cornish 

 coast, and might be straggling on eastwards. 



The Green-backed Gallinule differs from the Purple Gallinule only in 

 having a green instead of a purple back, and is an African species, very 

 rarely noticed on the northern side of the Mediterranean. Ten examples 

 have now been recorded as having been met with at large in various 

 places in the United Kingdom, and a live one was brought to Mr. Gat- 

 combe, having been taken on board a ship, but in what latitude is not 

 known, and was brought into Plvmouth two or three years before 188(3 

 (J. H. G. Jnr., Zool. 1886, p. 71>J 



Moor-hen. GalUmda cJdoropus (Linn.). 



[Water-hen.] 



Ilesident, generally distributed and abundant on ponds, in ditches, in 

 marshes, and in other suitable localities. Ureods. 



Tlie ^loor-hen has increased in numbers to a marked extent in the valley 

 of the Axe (G. P. II. P., ' Pook of tlie Axe'). It is numerous in the 

 ditches in tlie Exminster marshes, wliere there arc often only a few inches 

 <jf water at the bottom. When found by a dog on the bank of a ditch 

 tlie bird plunges into the shallow water, and its course, as it moves along 

 under the surface, can be distinctly traced, the air entangled in the plumage 

 surrounding the bird like a largo bubble or silvery envelope, and the liinl 

 is able to remain for some time under water. Wc have seen Moor-hens 

 killed with stones when thus endeavouring to oscii])i' the jiursnit of a (hrj;, 

 and it was a common practice for boj's to hunt tlicni in f liis iii.uiucr. 

 We fed our tamo Falcons at one time almost entirely on Aloor-licn^. and 

 caught several with a butterfly net, after having marked them intu llinr 

 hovers beneath a l)ank. 



This common bird is to be met with freijuently in a scnii-doiuesticated 



