GALLINULE. 427 



female the crown is fulvous ; upper part of the body the same, 

 streaked with white on the scapulars ; wings greenish, with a fulvous 

 tinge ; quills greenish blue. 



Inhabits the warmer parts of America; and, if the same mentioned 

 above by Bartram, is met with throughout the year. M. Brisson 

 makes it a Variety of the Purple Species. 



38— BLACK-BACKED GALLINULE. 



Porphyrio melanotus, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. p. 701. 



LENGTH nearly twenty-one inches. Bill and top of the head, 

 as far as the middle of the crown, deep blood-colour; head, and 

 neck to the shoulders purplish blue; back and wings deep black; 

 bend and bastard wing deep blue; quills black, with blue edges; 

 belly and thighs slate-colour ; tail short, black above, and slate 

 beneath ; legs stout, bare above the joint two inches; the shins four 

 inches and a half in length ; toes the same, both red. 



Inhabits New South Wales. 



39.— BLACK-JOINTED GALLINULE. 



LENGTH twenty-three or twenty-four inches. Bill and bare 



part on the crown crimson ; chin, throat, neck, and under parts in 



general blue, but the head is nearly black, inclining to purple ; the 



breast is paler, with a greenish tinge ; the whole of the back and 



wings deep greenish black, with a purplish gloss on the back, and 



the margins of the wing coverts glossed with green ; a little below 



the bend of the wing, a slender spur, half an inch in length ; greater 



quills outwardly blue; tail black, the under coverts white; legs red, 



bare above the joints ; but those, as well as all the joints of the feet 



and toes, are black ; claws black. 



I ii 2 



