. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. . cal. Itsfavourite food is the seeds of the cereals, aquatic plants, and fruits;it occasionally, however, feeds on molluscs and small fishes. Wheneating, sometimes it stands on one foot, and uses the other as a handin order to convey the food to its beak. The body of this magnificent bird is of an indigo blue, the beakand feet being rose-colour. The ancients, who were acquainted withit, and were accustomed to rear it in a domesticated state, gave it 298 REPTILES
. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. . cal. Itsfavourite food is the seeds of the cereals, aquatic plants, and fruits;it occasionally, however, feeds on molluscs and small fishes. Wheneating, sometimes it stands on one foot, and uses the other as a handin order to convey the food to its beak. The body of this magnificent bird is of an indigo blue, the beakand feet being rose-colour. The ancients, who were acquainted withit, and were accustomed to rear it in a domesticated state, gave it 298 REPTILES AND BIRDS. the name of Porphyria (purple-coloured) on account of its colour:If it could be acclimatised, it would be a valuable addition to ourornamental waters. There are several varieties of this species, differing more or lessfrom one another. They inhabit the warmer regions of the OldWorld, such as Asia Minor, Africa, and the South of Europe; it isabout the size of the ordinary domestic fowl. Rails {Ralhis) are characterised by a slender, tapering, slightly-arched beak, longer than the head ; elongated tarsi, terminating in. Fig. 112. —Hyacinthine Gallinule. slender toes, much compressed and completely separate, and notmarginate ; wings middle-sized; tail short. Their habits bear a strong resemblance to those of the the latter, they are timid, and hide themselves in rushes, under-wood, or grass of the marshes and meadows they inhabit. Theymake use of the burrows hollowed out by water-rats in which to takerefuge when hard pressed. Little thickets bordering brooks, andsmall low-lying damp meadows, are localities to which they arepeculiarly partial. Their flight is heavy and slow, not elevated, butis generally in a direct line. In running, however, they are adepts,and the means they adopt for escaping their pursuers often succeed. THE COOT. 299 Rails are not gregarious, differing in this respect from the majorityof migratory birds, which generally assemble i
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