THE HYACINTHINE GALL1NULE. 297 



graceful, and ornamental birds. During the day they secrete them- 

 selves among the reeds, but emerge from their hiding-places in the 

 evening and morning in search of food. 



Although incapable of either fast flight or rising to great ele- 

 vations, the Water Hens show considerable address in escaping from 

 the sportsman's gun. When pressed very closely, they take to their 

 favourite element, in which they are expert swimmers and divers ; 

 under the water they go, to reappear on the surface many yards 

 away, where they only show themselves above for a moment to 

 breathe, avoiding flight until every cause of fear is removed. 



In some countries they remain throughout the year; in others 

 they are migratory. When the latter is the case, they travel on foot, 

 or by swimming, and sometimes, but rarely, on the wing, following 

 the same route, however, year after year, and always returning with 

 constancy to the spot where they made their first nest. 



The eggs are seven or eight in number. During incubation the 

 male and lemale occupy the nest alternately. Should any intruder 

 alarm them, they never fail, before leaving the nest, to cover up 

 their cherished treasures with grass or other material, so as to keep 

 them warm and hidden from the voracity of their watchful enemy, 

 the crow. 



Immediately after the young are hatched they leave the nest to 

 follow their mother, and are very soon able to supply their own 

 wants. Their only covering at first is a scanty and coarse down ; 

 but they run rapidly, and seem almost instinctively to swim, dive, 

 and conceal themselves at the slightest appearance of danger. Young 

 Water Hens, however, are exposed to accident from the flooding of 

 streams, and consequent submersion of the nests ; and it is probably 

 by way of compensation for this that Nature has made them so 

 prolific, for they frequently rear three broods per annum. 



The Hyacinthine Gallinule {Porphyrio veterum, Fig. 112) or 

 Sultana Fowl, is peculiarly characteristic of Macrodactyles, and might 

 be defined as an exaggeration of the Water Hen. But its bill is 

 thicker and more robust, the frontal plate on the forehead is more 

 extended, the toes are longer ; the habits of both are identical. Its 

 favourite food is the seeds of the cereals, aquatic plants, and fruits ; 

 it occasionally, however, feeds on molluscs and small fishes. When 

 eating, sometimes it stands on one foot, and uses the other as a hand 

 in order to convey the food to its beak. 



The body of this magnificent bird is of an indigo blue, the beak 

 and feet being rose-colour. The ancients, who were acquainted with 

 it, and were accustomed to rear it in a domesticated state, gave it 



