6.
+• PURPLE G.
Description,
Female.
Place and
Manners,
Fulica porphyrio, Lin. Syft. i. p. 258. 5.— Sep. Ann. i. N° 152.
La Poule-Sultane, Hr if. Orn. \. p. 522. I. pi. 42. fig. I.— liuf. Of. viii,
p. 194. pi. 17.
La Taleve de Madagafcar, PI. Enl. 810.
Porphyrio, Ran Syn. p. 116. 13. 14.— Will. Orn. p. 318.
Purple Water Hen, BAkn. pi. 87.— Aliin, iii. pi. 11 •.
Br. Muf. Lev. Muf.
C I Z E of a Fowl: length one foot five inches. Bill very flout
at the bafe, comprefied on the fides, and above an inch and a
half in length; colour a deep red : irides fulvous : the forehead
bare and red: the head and hind part of the neck are glofly
violet: cheeks, throat, and fore part of the neck, violet blue :
back, rump, and fcapulars, dull green, but glofiy : quills the
fame, but brown within : the tail nearly the fame, and rounded
in fhape : legs very flout, and the colour of the bill.
The. female is fmaller than the male.
This bird is more or lefs common in all the warmer parts of
the globe. On the coafls of Barbary they abound, as well as in
fome of the iflands of the Mediterranean. In Sicily they are bred
in plenty, and kept for their beauty; but whether indigenous
there we are not certain. It is frequently met with in various
parts of the fouth of RuJJia, and weftern parts of Sibiria, among
reedy places; and in the neighbourhood of the Cafpian Sea' not
uncommon: but in the cultivated rice-grounds of Gbilar in
Perfta, in great plenty and in high plumage. The female makes
the neft among the reeds in the middle of March; lays three
or four eggs, and fits from three to four weeks. That it is com-
* Toes placed falfeJy, two before and two behind
mon
mon in China the paper-hangings from thence will every where
teflify. Is alfo met with in the Eaft Indies, the iflands of Java,
Madagafcar, and many others. Our late navigators faw them at
Fongataboo in vaft numbers, as well as in the ifland of Fanna *,
and other parts. It is alfo common in the fouthern parts ot
America. - .
In refpeft to its manners, it is a very docile bird, being eafily
tamed +, and feeding with the poultry, fcratching the ground
with the foot as the Cock and Hen. It will feed on many things,
fuch as fruit, roots of plants, and grain j but will eat fifh with
avidity, dipping them into the water before it fwallows them:
will frequently ftand on one leg, and lift the food to its mouth
with the other, like a Parrot. A pair of thefe, kept in an aviary
in France, made a neft of fmall flicks, mixed with a quantity
of ftraw, and laid fix white eggs, perfectly round j but the hen
was carelefs of them, and they came to nothing. The flefh is
faid to be exquifite in tafte
Fulica Martinica, Lin. Syji. i. p. 259. 7.
La petite Poule-Sultane, Brif, Orn, v. p. 526. 2. pi. 42. fig. 2. Buf.
Oif. viii. p. 206.
Lev, Muf,
T E S S than the common Gallinule, and the body more flender .
,L' length about twelve inches. Bill thirteen lines long, yellow,
with a red bafe : forehead bald and blue : irides red : the plu-
7*
+. MARTINICO
G.
pt. Lxxxvni.
D e s c r i p t io n .
* Forfl. Voy. i. 448. ii. 358.— Cook's laß Voy. i. 226. 334.
f In Dec. Ruf, ii. p. 240. this is denied ; obferving, that it will fooner lofe
its life than its liberty. X Id*
mage