Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0053/00531.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 13KB | 206 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00531}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Purple Gallinule}
$Subject{Rallinae; Gallinula; Porphyrula; martinica; Purple Gallinule}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume V}
$Volume{Vol. 5:128-132}
$Family{Rallinae}
$Genus{Gallinula; Porphyrula}
$Species{martinica}
$Common_Name{Purple Gallinule}
$Log{
Plate CCCIII*00531p1.scf
Family*00529.txt
Genus*00530.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL.  V.
                        --------------------------------


                               PURPLE GALLINULE.
                              [Purple Gallinule.]


                           GALLINULA MARTINICA, Linn.
                            [Porphyrula martinica.]


                              PLATE CCCIII.--MALE.


     Reader, although you may think it strange, I candidly assure you that I
have experienced a thousand times more pleasure while looking at the Purple
Gallinule flirting its tail while gaily moving over the broad leaves of the
water-lily, than I have ever done while silently sitting in the corner of a
crowded apartment, gazing on the flutterings of gaudy fans and the wavings of
flowing plumes.  Would that I were once more extended on some green grassy
couch, in my native Louisiana, or that I lay concealed under some beautiful
tree, overhanging the dark bayou, on whose waters the bird of beauty is wont to
display its graceful movements, and the rich hues of its glossy plumage!
Methinks I now see the charming creature gliding sylph-like over the leaves that
cover the lake, with the aid of her lengthened toes, so admirably adapted for
the purpose, and seeking the mate, who, devotedly attached as he is, has
absented himself, perhaps in search of some, secluded spot in which to place
their nest.  Now he comes, gracefully dividing the waters of the tranquil pool,
his frontal crest glowing with the brightest azure.  Look at his wings, how
elegantly they are spread and obliquely raised; see how his expanded tail
strikes the water; and mark the movements of his head, which is alternately
thrown backward and forward, as if he were congratulating his mate on their
happy meeting.  Now both birds walk along clinging to the stems and blades,
their voices clearly disclosing their mutual feelings of delight, and they
retire to some concealed place on the nearest shore, where we lose sight of them
for a time.
     Now, side by side, they look for the most secure spot among the tall rushes
that border the lake, and there they will soon form a nest, removed alike from
danger to be dreaded from the inhabitants of the land as of the water.  On the
thick mass of withered leaves are deposited the precious eggs, from which in
time emerge the dusky younglings, that presently betake themselves to the water,
over which they wander, guided by their affectionate parent, until it becomes
expedient for the party to disperse.
     The Purple Gallinule is a constant resident in the United States, although
peculiar to our southern districts, where I have met with it at all seasons.  It
is in the Floridas, the lower parts of Alabama, and among the broad marshes
bordering the Gulf of Mexico, in Lower Louisiana, that I have observed its
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 and the mouths of the great
river, it is abundant on all the retired bayous and small lakes.  The southern
portions of Georgia are also furnished with it; but in South Carolina it is
rare.  Proceeding south-westward along the Gulf of Mexico, I have found it as
far as Texas, where it breeds, as well as in Louisiana, where I observed it
coming from the south in May, 1837.
     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
Mississippi, I will now, good reader, place before you the results of my
observation.  In the summer months, 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 those 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 usually abandon these
plains first, and while the colour of their plumage is still 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 is best, although
it never equals that of the Fresh-water Marsh-hen, Rallus elegans, or of the
Sora Rail, Rallus carolinus.
     On the approach of winter, all the Purple Gallinules leave the savannahs,
and betake themselves to the immediate vicinity of ponds, bayous, or rivers,
where through experience 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.
     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 noise.  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 the height of two or three feet, and there the
nest is placed.  It is composed of the most delicate rushes, whether green or
withered, and is quite as substantial as that of the Common Gallinule, flattish,
having an internal diameter of eight or ten inches, while the entire breadth 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 greyish-yellow,
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 jerking 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.  It 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 of the feet.  The flight of
this species is less swift than that of the 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 it is in its breeding or feeding
grounds, its flight is slow and short, seldom exceeding thirty or forty yards,
and with the legs hanging down; and it alights among the herbage with its wings
spr