Hip.
l i i
The Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio cteruleus), and the
Green-backed Gallinule (P. smaragdonotus), have both been
captured several times in the British Islands. The former
inhabits the swamps of North. Africa, the Caspian, and the
marshes of the islands and the northern shores of the
Mediterranean, and has once occurred in Germany; the
latter is essentially an African species,- and a doubtful
straggler even to Sardinia and Sicily. -Both species are
frequently kept in confinement in this country, and as many
of the individuals captured can-be-clearly proved to have
escaped, it seems reasonable to assume that the others were
not genuine migrants.
The Martinique Gallinule (Porphyrio maHinicua), "a
common; species in Tropical America, is stated by- Thompson
(Ann. and Mag. N a t.-H ist, xviii. p. 311)7-Sto:v‘have, sohoe
occurred on the south-west coast of Ireland.
m i
B M I I
■m■Hi raf i
FU1.1Q4RIM- f $ALLIDMFuXiiCA
T tba , JMinpfeus. *
■ t h e 1 MM ON ' CGOT.
I K JBrisson +.—Beak
conical, straight/compressed afthelbase, higher than broad, superior basal por-
•loh extending'-up* the forehead, and dilated,-fefoahg a, naked patch, ^points of
- both mandibles compressed, of equaUength ; the upper one slightly^eurved, the
inferior,mandible with an ^ u n d e r n e a t h at the symphysis. Nostrils lateral,
"pierced — 1 — beak> B i H B K B B i
bfane. W W ‘naked -above the tarsal-joints tW to e s ? to ffro n t,
one b e h in d a ll the toes Jong, united.a> the base, ^ n i& e d laterally with *n
extension of the membrane, forming round lobes. Wings 1— I § §
first feather B hjter than the | * a j | o r third, which are the longest m the wjng.
Tail short. "
'T h e ‘CpQjr, i s a g e n e r a lly d if ^ r ib u te d sp e c ie s th r o u g h o u t
.th e B r i t i s h ’ I s l a n d s , u p o n l a r g e 'p o n d s , la k e s , a n d |lp fV
riv e rs'; i t '* tjsV f r e q u e n ts t h e le v e l s l $ p s Jrf som e p a r t ? p f
* Syst. N^t! EdTl2,d/ P- + Ornithologie, vi. p. 23 (l?§0t