386 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. IX. 



Subfamily GALLINULIN^. Gallinules. 

 Genus lONORNIS Reich. 



99. lonornis martinica (Linn.). 



Purple Gallinule. 



Distr.: Southern United States, West Indies, Middle America, 

 and northern South America, casual as far north as Maine and Wis- 

 consin. 



Adult male: Head, neck, and under parts, bluish purple, grading 

 into black on the belly; above, olive; wing coverts, bluish; back, olive; 

 crissum, white; frontal plate of the bill, blue; bill, red, tipped with 

 yellow; legs, yellow. 



Length, 11; wing, 6.50; tail, 2.65; tarsus, 2.30. 



The Purple Gallinule is of rare occurrence in Illinois in summer, 

 and a straggler in Wisconsin. Butler (Birds of Indiana, 1897) 

 states that it "breeds northward to southern Illinois," but I find no 

 record of the eggs having been taken there. Nelson (Birds N, E. 

 111., 1876, p. 135) mentions a specimen taken near Chicago, by Mr. 

 C. N. Holden, Jr., in May, 1866; and Mr. Ruthven Deane records a 

 second Illinois specimen killed by Mr. T. G. Windlass, near Coal City, 

 Grundy Co., on April 24, 1900. (The Auk, Vol. XIX, 1902, p. 77.) 

 Kumlien and Hollister give three records for Wisconsin, including 

 one by Dr. Hoy, Janesville, Milwaukee and Racine. It has also 

 been taken in Missouri, Iowa and Ohio. 



Genus GALLINULA Brisson. 

 100. Gallinula galeata (Light.). 

 Florida Gallinule. 



Distr.: Temperate and tropical America, from Canada to Brazil 

 and Chili, including the West Indies. 



Adult: Head, blackish; bill, tipped with green, rest of bill and 

 frontal plate, deep red; upper back, slaty; lower back and wings, olive 

 brown; under parts, dark slate color; lower belly, grayish; feathers, 

 faintly tipped with white; some of the feathers on the sides have the 

 inner webs white near the tip, giving the appearance of white stripes; 

 under tail coverts, black; tail, white and black; legs, olive green, red- 

 dish near the body. 



Length, 13; wing, 6.60; tail, 3.10; tarsus, 2; bill, including frontal 

 shield, 1.75; bill, from gape, 1.25. 



