FLORIDA GALLINULE. 
129 
they would hardly be looked upon even as individual varieties. 
Yet upon the principle we have set forth, and which we do not 
fear to maintain, they have a right, and ought properly to be 
considered, as real species. How different is the stand we now 
take, fortified by observations in the great field of nature, from 
that arbitrarily adopted by Buffon; who on the contrary saw every 
where the same species reproduced, but changed by climate, or I 
know not what, and whenever he could referred every new bird 
he met with to the paltry creations of Europe. 
But to come to facts, and without longer indulging in theory, we 
shall merely state that the Florida Gallinule differs specifically 
from the common Gallinule of Europe no less than the Java 
Gallinule, (Gallinula ardosiaca, Vieill.) although the differences are 
almost imperceptible, so as to justify those who have not hitherto 
distinguished between them, among whom we are to be included 
ourselves. The true Gallinula chloropus is spread over all Europe 
and the temperate parts of Asia, and is also met with throughout 
the continent of Africa from east to west, and from north to 
south. We have examined specimens from Egypt, others from 
Senegambia, and from the Cape of Good Hope. The size varies 
much, even in specimens from the same country, but the G. 
chloropus and ardosiaca have always the toes shorter than our 
American analogue. In fact, even in the largest specimen exa¬ 
mined by Lichtenstein, which was from Caffraria, and measured 
fourteen and a half inches, the middle toe without the nail was 
only twenty-six lines long: whilst in the Florida specimens of the 
ordinary size of fourteen inches, the same toe measures at least 
thirty-four lines. The tarsus likewise, and the other toes, are 
proportionally longer, and this forms the best discriminating 
mark. Another might also be drawn from the frontal clypeus, 
but as this extends with age in the different species, it may be 
deceptive : in full grown birds, however, it is proper to observe, 
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