Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various waterbirds of the family Rallidae, frequenting swampy regions and characteristically having dark iridescent plumage and a colorful area where the bill extends onto the forehead.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A bird of the subfamily Gallinulinæ, and especially of the genus Gallinula.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of several wading birds, having long, webless toes, and a frontal shield, belonging to the family
Rallidae . They are remarkable for running rapidly over marshes and on floating plants. The purple gallinule of America isIonornis Martinica , that of the Old World isPorphyrio porphyrio . The common European gallinule (Gallinula chloropus ) is also calledmoor hen ,water hen ,water rail ,moor coot ,night bird , and erroneouslydabchick . Closely related to it is the Florida gallinule (Gallinula galeata ).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Several
species ofbirds in thegenera Porphyrio andGallinula of the familyRallidae .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of various small aquatic birds of the genus Gallinula distinguished from rails by a frontal shield and a resemblance to domestic hens
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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There is the eyebrowed thrush, from Siberia, the American purple gallinule, from the southern states of the US, and the black-throated thrush, also from Siberia.
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American purple gallinule Porphyrio martinicaA medium-sized bird with purple-blue plumage, it inhabits swamps, lagoons, flooded fields and ponds.
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Important breeding wetland species include marbled teal Marmaronetta angustirostris (VU,35), white-headed duck Oxyura leucocephala (EN,400, which nest mainly in artificial ponds in surrounding areas), white-eyed pochard Aythya niroca (VU), purple gallinule Porphyrio porphyrio and crested coot Fulica cristata.
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It is particularly remarkable for its large breeding colonies, the millions of wintering waterbirds, and for harboring threatened species such as imperial eagle and purple gallinule.
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Reed beds, sedges and other fresh-water species have been replaced by halophytes, causing a sharp reduction in the numbers of migratory birds which depended on the former habitat; all reed-dependent species such as purple heron, purple gallinule and reed warblers have disappeared.
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A nearby Roman mosaic depicts a purple gallinule porphyrio porphyrio, which bred in the reed beds until a decade ago.
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Birds of interest spotted in the component include the hooded merganser, the sora rail, the American bittern, the pied - billed grebe, the marsh hawk, the sedge wren, the least tern, the common gallinule and the least bittern.
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Maryland 2007
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Yes, yes, from a purely aesthetic point of view the herons and the rare cranes of the Everglades are far lovelier; yes, the purple gallinule shimmers more gorgeously in the sun; and yes, the common moorhens the black waterbirds with red beaks are more funny and practical.
Ooooooh! mariness 2006
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That man of foolish understanding who steals ghee has to take birth as a gallinule.
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 Books 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli
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The jacana invariably lays four eggs, and the gallinule, at this latitude, six or eight, yet only a fraction of the young had survived even to this tender age.
Edge of the Jungle William Beebe 1919
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