Marshes and tideless openings filled with water lilies, "lettuce" and other aquatic plants in the southern states are the favorite haunts of this beautiful GALLINULE. Describing the courting, Pearson says: "As they walked, their tails jerked in a most pert and amusing manner. When springing from pad to pad their wings were held high above the head. One, clucking and displaying his superb plumage to every advantage, climbed a bush with many flutters and loud gutteral notes until he reached the branches of a dense magnolia. Here, from a height of twenty feet, under the full glare of the morning sun, it shone in resplendent purple beauty."
They swim well, accompanying foot propulsion with bobbing head, and have been noted swimming with only bills exposed.
NEST: a platform of decayed vegetation, located usually from two to four feet above water. Wampee (Pontederia cordata) clumps are a favorite site. Several completed empty nests surround the one occupied. They are buoyant and escape destruction by high tides.
EGGS: 6–10; buff or pink buff lightly marked with small dots of brown.
Southern United States. Casual to southern Canada and Nova Scotia.