PURPLE WATERHEN. 



tarsus four inches; middle toe four inclies and a half; claw of 

 middle toe one inch; hind toe one inch and three quarters, and 

 its much-curved claw one inch and one fifth; naked space above 

 the knee two inches; beak from gape one inch and four fifths; 

 upper mandible from the dilated osseous plate on the occiput 

 two inches and a half. 



The Purple Waterlien, the Porphyrioii of the 

 ancients, was celebrated by the Greeks and Eomans, 

 and deemed by them worthy of a place among their 

 heathen gods. The genus established by Brisson, and 

 of which the subject of the present notice is the only 

 European representative, is remarkable for beauty of 

 colour, for the extraordinary length of its toes, and 

 for the expansion on the forehead of the base of the 

 upper mandible in the form of a shield. 



The Purple Waterhen or Gallinule is found on the 

 borders of large rivers, lakes, and marshes in the south 

 of Europe, and is very abundant in rice plantations 

 where that cereal is grown. It occurs abundantly on 

 the shores of large lakes and inu.ndated grounds in 

 Sicily and the Ionian Islands, It is also found in 

 small nu.mbers in Hungary, and more rarely in 

 Sardinia. It has been observed in France, in Provence 

 and the Dauphine. It is included by Savi among the 

 birds of Italy, and by Dr. Lindermayer among those 

 of Greece. It is not mentioned in the "Faune Beige," 

 nor in the "Birds of Belgium," by Dubois, nor in the 

 "Vogel Deutschlands" of Naumann. 



Count Miihle says he never saw this bird in Greece, 

 although Bonaparte, Temminck, and others, quote that 

 country as one of its habitats. Upon this Dr. Linder- 

 mayer ("Vogel Griechenlands," p. 131,) says, — "This 

 bird has not been killed either by Count Miihle or 

 myself, yet I have seen many of them in the bird- 



