38 PURPLE GALLINULE.
they wander, guided by their affectionate parent, until'it-bemmies expedient
for the party to disperse.
• The Purple Gallirmli' is a constant resident in the United States,,
although peculiar to their 'schiihern Sistf ic'ts, wherte I have met with it
at all seasons. I t is im.th® Floridas, the lower parts of Alabama, and
among tMgi broad marshes bordering the Gulf of Mexico, »-»Lower
Louisiana, that I have observed ii|s habits. Beyond the Carolinas
eastward, it is only met with as an accidental straggler. It never, I?
believe, ascends the Mississippi beyond Memphis, where indeed it is
but rarely seen.; but between Natchez anil thevSnOuths of tin; great,
river, it is abundant on all the-retired bayous and small lakes. Tho
southern portions s®f Georgia are also furnished with it-; but in South
Carolina it is rare. Proceeding, southwestward along the Gulf Of
'Mexico, I have found it as far as Texas, where it breeds, as we'll as in
Louisiana, where I observed'it coming from tho .south in May 1K37.
Having studied the habits of this bird under every advantage in
Louisiana, and especially in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, and
the mouths of the Mississigp%tl will now, good Reader, place before
-you the results of my observation. In the summer month's, the Purple
Gallinules; remove with their broods to the prairies or large savannahs
bordering the bayous or lakes on which they have bred, and remain in
thosga places, which are generally covered with thick and tall grass,
until the •beginning of September, when the vegetation having been
dried up by the intense heat "and drought, neither food nor sufficient
concealment can be obtained. The young birds usuallyiabandott these
plains first, and while the colour of their plumage is; sfill green, instead
of purplish-blue, which tint, however, is assumed before the return of
spring. During all this while, its'notes are as frequently heard as
during the breeding season. They resemble the delicate whistling
sounds of the Blue-winged Teal during its residence with us. At this
season also;its flesh j s best,'although it never ¡equals that of the Freshwater
Marsh-hen, MaMm 'ehgams, or of the Sora Bail, Mattus crepitans.
On tho approach of winter, all the Purple Gallinules leave the savannahs,"
and betake/¡themselves to the immediate vicinity of ponds,
bayousjwor rivers, where through experieiiee they become shy^ vigilant,
and cunning. They seldom remove from one: place to: another, or travel
at all, unless by night, although in sequestered parts they feed both
'On land and on the water by day.
PURPLE GALLINULE. 89
The Purple Gallinule breeds at a remarkably early period of the
year. I have found young birds in their jetty down clothing in February,
and they have been observed in the same month by the keepers
of the lighthouse at the south-west Pass Of the Mississippi, at Key
West, and in other places. The parent birds are sometimes so very
intent on saving their young, as to suffer themselves to be caught. At
this period their calls are almost incessantly heard during the whole
night, and are elicited during the day by any musical or remarkable
„„¡se; ' The nest is generally placed among a kind of rushes that are
green at all seasons, round, very pithy, rarely more than five feet high,
and grow more along the margins of ponds than in ' the water itself.
The birds gather many of them, and fasten them at thè'height of two
or three feet, and there the nest is placed. It is composed of the
most delicate rushe-%. whether green or ¡withered, and is ¡Juifré as substantial
asithat of the Common Gallinule, flattish, having an internal diameter
of eight or ten inches, while the entire lireadth.is about fifteen.
The eggs, -which are from five to seven, rarely more, are very similar
to those of the Common Gallinule, being of a light grcyish^yellmv,
spotted with blackish-brown, The young are at first quite black, and
covered with down. They are fully fledged by the first of June, when,
as I have said, they and. their parents remove to the wet savannahs in
the neighbourhood.
• The j erking motions of the tail of this bird, whenever it is disturbed,
or attracted by any remarkable object, are very quick, and so often repeated
as to have a curious appearance. I t runs with great speed, and
dives With equal address, often moving off under water with nothing
but the bill above. The lightness and ease with which it walks on the
floating plants are surprising, for in proceeding they scarcely produce
any perceptible disturbance of the water. When swimming in full security,
they move buoyantly :and gracefully, throwing the head forward
at every propelling motion ofthe feet. The flight of this species is less
swift than that of # e Common Gallinule,;.or of the Rails, unless when it
is travelling far, when it flies high, and advances in a direct course by
continued flappings ; but when ijt is in its breeding or feeding grounds,
its flight is: .slow and short, seildo,m exceeding thirty or forty yards, and
with the legs hanging downf tn^ j,t alights among the herbage jvith
its wings spread upwards in the manner of the Rails. It often alights