PURPLE GALLINULE. 
Fulica Porphyrio. 
La Poule-Sultane. 
Purple Water Hen. 
Purple Gallinule. 
Lin. Syst. i. p. 25 8. 5. 
Bris. Orn. y. p. 5 2 2 . 
Buff. Ois. viii. p. 194 . 
Edw. pi. 87. 
Lath. Sjn. iii. p. 25 4. 
Very few birds have more splendid or brilliant irradiation of plumage 
than the present subject, its beautiful feathers, when viewed in the sun, 
forming a combination of the richest tints of blue, purple, and green ; it 
appears likewise to be a bird singularly disposed to domestication, being 
very docile, mild, easily tamed, very soon becoming familiar, and attached 
to its keeper. It was therefore justly considered as a valuable acquisition 
and an ornament to this splendid collection. It is reduced on the Plate, 
its length being one foot five inches. 
In Sicily these birds are bred in plenty, and very much admired for 
their beauty; they appear in the streets and markets, picking up the refuse 
of fruit and vegetables, but whether they are indigenous there, or whether 
they migrated originally from Africa, is uncertain * 
This we know, that they abound on the coast of Barbary, in the islands, 
of the Mediterranean ; they are met with in various parts of the south of 
Russia, in the western parts of Siberia, and in the neighbourhood of the 
Caspian sea; in the cultivated rice grounds of Ghilar, in Persia, in great 
abundance; and in high plumage in China, the East Indies, the islands of 
Java and Madagascar; and they are common in the southern parts of 
America. 
In their wild state, the female makes its nest among the reeds in March, 
lays three or four white eggs perfectly round, the time of incubation occupy- 
ing from three to four weeks. It not only feeds on fruit, plants, and grain, 
but will eat fish with avidity, repeatedly dipping them in water before it 
swallows them : it frequently stands on one leg, and clenching its food with 
its toes, lifts it to its mouth with the other, in the same manner as the 
Parrot. 
