Length to end of tail 9 inches, to end of wings 8-3/8, to end of claws 10; extent of wings 18-3/8; along the ridge 9-(1/2)/12, along the edge of lower mandible 11/12; wing from flexure 6-1/12; tail 2-4/12; tarsus 11/12; hind toe (2-1/2)/12, its claw 2/12; middle toe 10/12, its claw (3-1/2)/12. Average weight of three specimens 3-2/3 oz. Male in winter. Plate CCCIV. Fig. 2. In winter, the throat, lower parts, middle of the back, upper tail-coverts, and band across the wing, are white, as in summer; the tail, and quills, are also similarly coloured, but the inner secondaries are destitute of red, of which there are no traces on the upper parts, they being of a dark greyish-brown colour, the feathers tipped or margined with paler; the outer edges of the outer scapulars, and some of the smaller wing-coverts, white; on the sides and fore part of the neck the feathers blackish, with white shafts. Individuals vary much according to age and sex, as well in size as in colour, scarcely two in summer plumage being found exactly similar. In a male bird, the tongue is (6-1/2)/12 of an inch in length, sagittate and papillate at the base, concave above, narrow, and tapering to the point. The œsophagus is 4-1/4 inches long, inclines to the right, is rather narrow, and uniform, its diameter (4-1/2)/12. Proventriculus oblong, 8/12 in length, 5/12 in breadth, its glandules cylindrical. Stomach oblong, 11/12 in length, its cuticular lining very tough and hard, with broad longitudinal rugæ, its lateral muscles moderately large. Intestine 17-1/2 inches long, slender, varying in diameter from (2-1/2)/12 to (1-1/2)/12; rectum 1-1/2; cæca 1-8/12, 11/12 in diameter at the commencement, 2/12 toward the end; cloaca globular. The trachea is 3-1/4 inches long, 2-(1/2)/12 in breadth, contracts to 1/12; its lateral muscles very thin; sterno-tracheal slender, a pair of tracheali-bronchial muscles. The rings are very thin and unossified, 104 in number. Bronchi of moderate length, with about 15 half rings. In a female, the œsophagus is 4-1/4 inches long, the intestine 18. In both individuals, the stomach contained fragments of shells, and claws of very small crabs: which were also found in the intestine, although there more comminuted. PURPLE GALLINULE. _GALLINULA MARTINICA_, LATH. PLATE CCCV. MALE.