PURPLE GALLINULE. 637 
PURPLE GALLINULE.— GALLINULA PORPHYRIO. — Fie. 307. 
Gallinula porphyrio, Latham, Ind. Orn. p. 168. Idem. iii. pt. 1. p. 254. Id. 2d, Sup. 
326.— Gerin, Orn. y. t. 485.—Fulica porphyrio, Zurt. Syst. 1, 422.— Scop. 
Amer. 1, No. 152,— La poule sultane, Briss. Orns y. p. 522, pl. 42, ng. 1. — Buff. 
Ois. xv. p. 302, Pl. enl. No. 810.— Rati Syn. p. 116, 13, 14.—Will. Orn. p. 
oe Purple Water Hen, dw. 87.— Albia, ii. pl. 11. — Peale’s Museum, No. 
GALLINULA 2 MARTINICA. — Latuam.* t 
Gallinula Martinica, Bonap. Synop. p. 336. 
Tus splendid and celebrated bird is a native of the southern parts 
of the continent of America; and is occasionally found within the 
limits of the United States. But we have to regret that it is not in 
our power to furnish any additional particulars to its history, already 
detailed in the works of the European naturalists. Travellers in our 
section of the globe have hitherto been too neglectful of that beauti- 
ful, interesting, and useful portion of animated nature, the birds. Con- 
tent with wandering over an extent of country, noting merely the 
common-place occurrences of life, the voyager returns to his friends, 
and unfolds to their attentive ears the history of his adventures. His 
book is published, read, and thrown aside with the ephemeral sheets, 
the useful, but soon forgotten newspapers. If the natural history of 
only one single acre were to be accurately recorded by each traveller, 
mankind would receive more real benefit and satisfaction from such 
productions, than from cart-loads of itineraries, descriptive of scenes 
and manners, which, from being long familiar to us, fail to interest, or 
disgust by the frequency of their repetition. Curiosity is an active 
principle, and we could sincerely wish every traveller to be possessed 
of an abundant share of it; not that impertinent desire to pry into 
the affairs of families or communities, which distinguishes some indi- 
viduals ; but that laudable thirst for knowledge, which leads one over 
mountains and precipices, through forests, valleys, and thickets, intent 
on exploring the inexhaustible treasures of nature. 
We have been insensibly led into this train of reflections, in conse- 
quence of our chagrin in not finding any account of the subject 
of this article in the pages of the American traveller, historian, or 
naturalist. To the Europeans, then, we are compelled to resort, happy 
‘that, with their assistance, we shall be enabled to throw some light on 
the history of a stranger, whose native haunts we have never yet had 
the good fortune to explore. ; 
«This bird,” says Latham, “is more or less common in all the 
warmer parts of the globe. On the coasts of Barbary they abound, as 
well as in some of the islands of the Mediterranean. In Sicily, they 
are bred in plenty, and kept for their beauty ; but whether indigenuous 
there, we are not certain. It is frequently met with in various parts of 
* This species, in form, runs very much into the Porphyrio of Brisson ; but with- 
out specimens, I cannot decide whether it should rank there, or on the confines of 
Gallinula._ The characters of the former group are, the much greater strength of 
the bill, being almost as high as long, the greater proportional Jength of legs, and 
the splendid and metallic lustre of the plumage. Tn their manners, they are paruly 
granivorous, and live oa upon land than the Water Lens. —Ep. 
