Genus PORPHYRIO. 



Gen. Char. Bill shorter than the head, strong, hard, thick, concave, nearly as high as long, 

 culmen of the superior mandible depressed and dilated upon the forehead. Nostrils 

 lateral, placed near the ridge, and pierced through the mandible. Feet strong. Toes long ; 

 each furnished with a fine lateral membrane. Wings moderate, the third or fourth quill- 

 feather the longest. 



HYACINTHINE PORPHYRIO. 



Porphyrio hyacinthinus, Temm. 

 Le Taleve Porphyrion. 



The birds forming the restricted genus Porphyrio may be readily distinguished from the Gallinules (Gallinuld) 

 by the greater depth and richness of the colour of their plumage, by the extraordinary development of the 

 feet, and by the robust form of the bill. Although the number of species is somewhat limited, they are 

 widely distributed over the tropical portions of the Old World, 



Independently of the southern and eastern parts of Europe, the marshes of which are the places of constant 

 resort for this beautiful bird, its range is extended over a great portion of Africa to the south, and as far as 

 the mountains of the Himalaya to the east. In Europe it is especially abundant in the Grecian Archipelago, 

 the Levant, and the Ionian Islands ; it is less common in Dalmatia and Sardinia. The southern provinces of 

 Hungary and Russia, and the borders of the Caspian Sea, may also be enumerated among its European 

 localities. 



Like the Water-hen, or Common Gallinule, it dwells on the borders of rivers and in all marshy situations. 

 In its food it is partly herbivorous, feeding on various kinds of marine vegetables ; still, as the robust and hard 

 character of its bill implies, it is destined to live upon other food, and hence we find it frequently giving a 

 preference to hard seeds and grain, to which are added snails, frogs, and other aquatic animals. 



Although its form would seem to deny the fact, its actions and appearance on the land are both elegant and 

 graceful. It is extremely quick in all its movements, running with ease and swiftness ; and from the great 

 expansion of its feet it is enabled to pass with facility over soft oozy mud, aquatic herbage, &c: but although 

 much agility characterizes this species on land, its aerial evolutions are heavy, and apparently performed with 

 considerable difficulty. 



The sexes offer no difference in the colour of their plumage. They breed in marshes, much in the manner 

 of the Common Gallinule, giving preference to the sedgy parts of the morass and partly inundated rice-fields, 

 where it constructs a nest of aquatic plants, and lays three or four white eggs that are nearly round. 



Bill fine red ; legs and feet fleshy red ; irides lake red ; cheeks, throat, sides of the neck, and chest turquoise 

 blue ; remainder of the plumage deep dull indigo blue, having the edges of the greater and lesser coverts of 

 the wings lighter in colour and more brilliant ; under taihcoverts white. 



The Plate represents an adult of the natural size. 



