FLORIDA GALLINULE..
G A L L IN U L A G A L E A T A .
' Plate XXVII. Fig. 1; ,
Qrex galeata, L ichtenbtein, Ferzdch. Mm. Berlin, p. 81, sp. 826.
Gallinula chloropus, Nob. Cat. and Syn. birds U ■& sp.. 275. •
Fulica major pulla, fronte cera coccinea oblongo-quadra/a glabra obducta, membrana
digit orum cmgmtissima, Browne, Nat. Hist, of Jam. p. 479, (Bed-faced Coofe).
The Cool, Seoawb, Jamaica, II, p. 320, sp. 15.
My collection.
In all cages wherein we find two animals, however similar or
'apparently identical in other respects, but restricted within very
far distant localities, between which no line of communication can
be traced, and beyond which, as in the present case, they are not
known to perform great periodical migrations, we may boldly
assert that ?the individuals of the different countries belong to
distinct species, having sprung from a different centre of éèdmSSÊ,
and not. being descendants .of the same original type. The few
known exceptions to this excellent general rule are daily falling
in with it, as they come under the closer observation of the more
and more practised eye-of the naturalist i and since the separation
into, different species of the Gallinulës that inhabit the different
parts of the globe, there, is reason to think that no exception
whatever wily be admitted to exist, and that all that remain are
. owing to the want of sufficiently minute, comparison and examination.
No birds, in fact, reappear in widely separated longitudes
under forms and colours so similar as the Gallinules, of which we
are treating, and if all the species were found in the same country,
they w@!uld; baldly lire looked upon even as individual varieties.■
Yet upon thé principle we have set- forth, and which we do not
fear j f e maihtain, they have a right, and ought properly to bfe
cOhs^Rred, as real speeies. How different is the stand we now
takei fortified by observations i-n the great field of nature, from
that arbitrarily adopted Jty BiiÊfóa J 'who on the ©@n*r»y Say every
where the same Species' reproduced, but changed byelimate, or I
know not what, and whenever he- could new bird
ho met with ft© the paltry creations of ]3&rope.
But to e@*ne to fa ^ s, add without longer indulging in theory, we
shall merely, state that the Florida Galtinuh differs specifically
from the Common Gallinule of Europe .no less than the Java
Gallinsule, (Gallinula ardosiaca, Vie-ill.) although the différences are
almost imperceptible, so as to justify those who have not hitherto
distinguished between them, among whom we are to be included
ôUrselvésï . 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
s©g|h. We have examined specimens from Egypt, others from
Selieganibia, and from the Cape ©f Good Hope. • The size varies
much, even in specimens' from the same country, but the G.
chloropus and ardosiaca, hay©-. always the toes shorter than our
American analogue. In fact,nyen.in thje largest specimen examined
by Lichtenstein, which was from Caffraria, and measured
fourteen and.a half inches, the.middle toe without the nail was
only twenty-^ix tines long ; whilst in the Florida specimens of the
ordinary size of fourteen inches,-the same toe measures at least
thirty-dour 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 cjypeus,
hut as this extends with age in the different species, it may be
déceptive : in full grown birds, however, it is proper to observe,
■' yot,. iv.^—K k : '