em to return. Several boats are
sometimes within a short distance of each other, and perpetual
cracking of musketry prevails along the whole reedy shores of the
river. In these excursions it is not uncommon for an active and expert
marksman to kill ten or twelve dozen in a tide. They are usually shot
singly, though I have known five killed at one discharge of a
double-barreled piece. These instances are rare. The flight of these
birds among the reeds is usually low; and shelter being abundant, is
rarely extended to more than fifty or one hundred yards. When winged
and uninjured in their legs, they swim and dive with great rapidity,
and are seldom seen to rise again. I have several times on such
occasions discovered them clinging with their feet to the reeds under
the water; and at other times skulking under the floating reeds with
their bill just above the surface. Sometimes, when wounded, they dive,
and rising under the gunwale of the boat, secrete themselves there,
moving round as the boat moves until they have an opportunity of
escaping unnoticed. They are feeble and delicate in every thing but
the legs, which seem to possess great vigor and energy, and their
bodies being so remarkably thin or compressed as to be less than an
inch and a quarter through transversely, they are enabled to pass
between the reeds like rats. Yet though their flight among the reeds
seems feeble and fluttering, every sportsman who is acquainted with
them here must have seen them occasionally rising to a considerable
height, stretching out their legs behind them, and flying rapidly
across the river where it is more than a mile in width."

[Illustration: PURPLE GALLINULE. (_Gallinula Porphyrio._ WILSON.)]

Before concluding this article, we would say a few words in behalf of
the Gallinule, called, from its resemblance to the domestic fowl, the
Water Hen. In respect to manners, it is, according to Latham, a very
docile bird, being easily tamed and feeding with the common poultry,
scratching the ground with the foot like the latter. It will feed on
many things, such as roots of plants, fruits, and grain, but will eat
fish with avidity, dipping them in the water before it swallows them;
will frequently stand on one leg and lift the food to its mouth with
the other, like a parrot. Its flesh is exquisite in taste. This bird
was famous among the ancients under the name Porphyrion, indicating
the red or purple tint of its bill and feet--a far more a