X30 PURPLE GALLINULE. 



have been observed in the same month by the keepers of the lighthouse at 

 the south-west Pass of the Mississippi, at Key "West, and in other places. 

 The parent birds are sometimes so very intent on saving their young, as to 

 suffer themselves to be caught. At this period their calls are almost inces- 

 santly heard during the whole night, and are elicited during the day by any 

 musical or remarkable noise. The nest is generally placed among a kind of 

 rushes that are green at all seasons, round, very pithy, rarely more than five 

 feet high, and grow more along the margins of ponds than in the water 

 itself. The birds gather many of them, and fasten them at the height of two 

 or three feet, and there the nest is placed. It is composed of the most 

 delicate rushes, whether green or withered, and is quite as substantial as that 

 of the Common Gallinule, flattish, having an internal diameter of eight or 

 ten inches, while the entire breadth is about fifteen. The eggs, which are 

 from five to seven, rarely more, are very similar to those of the Common 

 Gallinule, being of a light greyish-yellow, spotted with blackish-brown. 

 The young are at first quite black, and covered with down. They are fully 

 fledged by the first of June, when, as I have said, they and their parents 

 remove to the wet savannahs in the neighbourhood. 



The jerking motions of the tail of this bird, whenever it is disturbed, or 

 attracted by any remarkable object, are very quick, and so often repeated as 

 to have a curious appearance. It runs with great speed, and dives with 

 equal address, often moving off under water with nothing but the bill above. 

 The lightness and ease with which it walks on the floating plants are 

 surprising, for in proceeding they scarcely produce any perceptible disturb- 

 ance of the water. When swimming in full security, they move buoyantly 

 and gracefully, throwing the head forward at every propelling motion of the 

 feet. The flight of this species is less swift than that of the Common 

 Gallinule, or of the Rails, unless when it is travelling far, when it flies high, 

 and advances in a direct course by continued flappings; but when it is in its 

 breeding or feeding grounds, its flight is slow and short, seldom exceeding 

 thirty or forty yards, and with the legs hanging down; and it alights among 

 the herbage with its wings spread upwards in the manner of the Rails. It 

 often alights on the low branches of trees and bushes growing over the 

 water, and walks lightly and gracefully over them. 



It is seldom that more than one Purple Gallinule is shot at a time, unless 

 in the beginning of the love-season, when the male and female are apt to 

 swim or walk close together. The male at this period is said to be able to 

 inflate the frontal plate while strutting, but I have never been fortunate 

 enough to observe this. 



The Purple Gallinule not unfrequently alights on ships at sea. While at 

 the Island of Galveston, on the 26th of April, I was offered several live 



