H Y A C I N T H I N E P O PU' H Y R I O . 
2o7 
Length from the tip of the beak to that of the 
tail about twenty inches : the cheeks, the throat, all 
the fore part and sides of the neck of a beautiful 
turquoise-blue : the occiput, nape, thighs, and abdo- 
men of a very deep but not brilliant indigo : the 
back, wing-coverts, and the larger wing and tail-fea- 
thers of shining indigo-blue : the under tail-coverts 
pure white : the frontal and coronal plates, as well as 
the beak, bright red : irides lake : the legs and toes 
flesh colour. 
This species inhabits the marshy borders of rivers 
and large lakes : it is very abundant in the rice fields 
and aquatic situations in most of the south-eastern 
parts of Europe, especially in the Grecian Archipe- 
lago, the Levant, Calabria, the Ionian Islands, and 
Sicily. It also occurs in less profusion in Dalmatia, 
and the southern provinces of Flungary ; likew^ise in 
the south of Russia, the neighbourhood of the Cas- 
pian Sea, and in Persia. It is said to subsist on corn, 
grasses, the seeds of aquatic plants, and on their 
roots ; also upon fruits and small fishes : the female 
constructs her nest of sticks and twigs among the 
high herbage of the marshy places, where she resides. 
The eggs are three or four in number, white, and 
nearly round. 
V. xH. r. I. 
17 
