GALLINULES 91 



PURPLE GALLINULE : lonornis martinicus (Linnaeus) . 



State records. — The purple gallinule is a rather rare sum- 

 mer resident in the coast marshes and probably occurs irregu- 

 larly and locally in the interior. Audubon states that he ob- 

 served it in "the lower parts of Alabama,"t but at present it 

 seems to be rare there. In Chuckvee Bay, Baldwin County, 

 May 12, 1911, 1 saw two of the birds, but was unable to get a 

 specimen. Again, in July, 1913, I hunted there assiduously 

 without seeing a single gallinule, but on May 28, 1914, I 

 secured an adult female. Local hunters told me that these 

 birds occur there regularly in summer, but disappear during 

 cold weather. L. S. Golsan states that a purple gallinule was 

 killed in summer several years ago on the borders of Bear 

 Swamp, near Autaugaville. 



General habits. — Wayne has found this species abundant in 

 South Carolina, where it lives on abandoned rice plantations 

 or "on freshwater rivers where the wampee (Pontederia cor- 

 data) grows in profusion." The birds arrive in that region 

 in spring between April 10 and 17. He states that the birds 

 may be seen "walking over the large leaves of the pondlily, 

 every now and then flirting their tails or holding their wings 

 over their heads * * * while flying, the legs always hang 

 down and the birds cackle continuously * * *. The birds 

 are exceedingly tame, and one can almost step on them before 

 they fly. If wounded, they dive immediately and remain 

 under water for fully five minutes. * * * The nests are com- 

 menced about May 5, and are built in the wampee and rushes, 

 invariably over water, and are made of half decayed leaves of 

 these plants. They are substantially built and well secured 

 to the wampee as it grows in the water." J 



Food habits. — Forbush states that this bird feeds on insects, 

 worms, moUusks, and other small aquatic animals, and on 

 fruit, seeds, and other vegetable productions.** The stomach 

 of the single bird collected in Alabama contained more than 

 400 seeds of water millet (Zizaniopsis miliacea) which 

 abounds in the marshes inhabited by the bird. 



tAudubon, J. J., Ornith. Biog., vol. 4, p. aS, 1838. 



tWayne, A. T., Birds of South Carolina, pp. 40-41, 1910. 



'•Forbush, B. H., Game birds, wiM-fowl, and shore birds, p. 218, 1912. 



