399© British Birds 102 • July 2009 • 399–402

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ABSTRACT An Allen’s GallinulePorphyrio alleni was picked up in a moribund condition on 10th

February 2002 at Weston, Portland,Dorset, and died shortly afterwards.This was the second British record

and the first since 1902.Its occurrence fell within the

established pattern of northwardvagrancy by Allen’s Gallinule, mostEuropean records having occurredbetween December and February.

Only one tropical African bird species hasever been recorded in the wild inBritain: Allen’s Gallinule Porphyrio

alleni. The first for Britain was a juvenile thatwas found exhausted on a boat off the Norfolk(then Suffolk) coast near Hopton-on-Sea inJanuary 1902. As if to commemorate theanniversary of this important record, almostexactly 100 years later a second was discovered: amoribund individual at Portland, Dorset (Cade2002). Following a review by BOURC, it wasplaced in Category A of the British List (BOU2005).

The Portland birdOn 10th February 2002, local resident AshleighSnaith discovered a moribund bird whilewalking her dog at West Cliffs, Weston, nearPortland. The bird was in an advanced state ofexhaustion and was given into the care ofPortland Bird Observatory warden Martin Cade.The bird was thin and severely dehydrated and,despite Martin’s best efforts to revive it, itscondition deteriorated rapidly and it died withinthe hour. The bird’s weight at the time was 82 g,some 20 g below the lowest previously recordedweight, and about half that of a healthy bird.

Specimen preparationThe specimen was donated to the ornithological

research collections of the Natural HistoryMuseum (NHM), Tring. The body was preparedas a skin and skeleton, and a wing was detachedand spread (plates 222 & 223). The skull wasremoved from the skin and replaced with a cast,which has been left uncoloured. The bones fromthe detached wing and one leg are also nowincorporated with the skeleton of the trunk andskull, making its osteological representationcomplete. The BMNH Registration Number ofthe skin and spread wing is 2007.17.1 and theRegistration Number of the skeleton is(s)2009.1.1. Tissue samples have been taken forfuture DNA analysis. Internal sexing showed thebird to be a male, with gonad length of 5 mm.The flight muscles were severely depleted and nosubcutaneous fat was present.

DescriptionThe specimen is a first-winter just commencingpost-juvenile moult. The wide buff margins tothe juvenile feathers of the mantle and wing-coverts show extensive wear and several partiallygrown blue (adult) feathers are already visibleon the upper flanks.

Plumage Forehead, crown, lores and ear-coverts uniformdark brown and no supercilium. Upper napeand side of neck warm terracotta-brown.Feathers of lower nape, mantle and scapularsdull brown with broad pale straw fringes. Chinwhite, with faint reddish-brown wash. Throatand upper breast dull terracotta-brown. Lowerbreast, belly and flanks pale sandy-brown, withoccasional newly replaced bright blue feathersappearing on the lower flanks. Lesser, medianand greater coverts olive-brown with broad palestraw fringes. Tertials rich olive-brown with anarrow dark buff fringe on both webs, becomingbroader towards tip. Primary coverts dark grey-brown with dull blue-green outer webs. Aluladark grey-brown with dull blue-green outerwebs and paler sandy-buff fringe at tip.Primaries and secondaries dark grey-brownwith dull blue-green outer webs, gradually

A second British record of Allen’s Gallinule

400 British Birds 102 • July 2009 • 399–402

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becoming rich olive-brown at the fringe. On thefolded wing, where only the outer webs arevisible, these combine to form a conspicuousblue-green panel.

Bare parts Upper mandible dull reddish-brown, becomingdarker towards base. Lower mandible dull redwith slight darkening at base. Tarsi dullplumbeous-brown, toes and claws slightly palerdull reddish-brown.

Biometrics and wing formulaThe bird’s wing formula had been recorded byMartin Cade (primaries numbered ascendantly)and two sets of biometrics were compiled (table 1)

Weather conditionsWind flows in the days prior to 10th February2002 originated far out into the North Atlantic,and no trajectories during the previous few dayscan be related to a movement from the south.The first fortnight of January 2002 producedconditions suitable for a movement fromnorthern Africa into eastern Iberia, and evenonwards into Britain, but there was noparticular weather-related event in the days

leading up to the discovery of this individualthat may have influenced its arrival in Dorset.

Comments on the first British recordBritain’s first Allen’s Gallinule, also a juvenile,landed exhausted on a boat not far fromHopton-on-Sea on 1st January 1902. It wastaken to the premises of local taxidermist WalterLowne, in Great Yarmouth. Although it was keptalive for a few days on a diet of mealworms, it isuncertain whether or not the unfortunate bird’sdeath was entirely due to natural circumstances!The specimen then came into the possession ofMr J. B. Nichols, but was later sold at auction inLondon in 1929 and its whereabouts are nolonger known (Taylor et al. 1999).

The unprecedented arrival of a sub-Saharanrail in Britain in the middle of winter was metwith incredulity. At that time, little was knownof the importance of seasonal rainfall in Africaand how this affects the movements anddispersal of tropical African birds. In the latenineteenth and early twentieth centuries, severalaviculturalists kept small numbers of Allen’sGallinules in Britain, although none wasreported missing at the time of the Norfolkbird’s arrival (Gurney 1902), Furthermore, there

Table 1. Measurements of the Portland Allen’s Gallinule Porphyrio alleni taken by Martin Cade (MC),when the bird was freshly dead, and by Katrina Cook (KC), of the defrosted specimen.

Measurement MC KC Comments

Weight 82 g 80 g discrepancy may be due to dehydration during freezingWing length 157 mm 156 mm maximum chordTail 64 mm 66 mmBill length from top/end of 36.7 mm 34.5 mm discrepancy may be due to shrinkage

frontal shieldTotal head length 52.5 mmBill width at feathering 8.7 mmBill width at proximal end of nostril 7 mmBill width at anterior tip of nostril 3 mmBill depth at feathering 12.5 mmBill depth at proximal end of nostril 10.5 mmBill depth at anterior tip of nostril 9 mmTarsus (maximum) 53.2 mm 50 mm discrepancy may be due to different methodology

used to take the measurementTarsus and toe (including claw) 120 mm 120 mmHind claw 13.1 mm 13 mmMiddle toe 66.3 mm

Wing formula

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10-25 -4 0 -3 -8 -15 -24 -33 -40 -48

Note also: wing-tip to S1 (outermost secondary), 55 mm; wing-tip to longest secondary, 50 mm;wing-tip to tertials, 39 mm.

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was no sign of damage to the unmoultedjuvenile plumage consistent with a prolongedperiod of captivity during live transportationfrom Africa.

Witherby & Ticehurst (1908) noted that thespecies had occurred in the winter in Italy andSicily, and acknowledged the possibility that theNorfolk bird could be a genuine storm-drivenmigrant. Nonetheless, they retained the recordin brackets and did not include it with the list ofadditions to the list of British birds since 1899.This remained the view of most authorsthroughout the first half of the twentiethcentury, including Witherby et al. (1938–1941),although Bannermann (1963) recommendedacceptance. By the early 1970s, a pattern ofnorthward vagrancy waswell established and RobertHudson suggested thatBOURC review the 1902record (Hudson 1974).Allen’s Gallinule wasaccepted onto the BritishList by BOURC in March1974 (BOU 1974) andplaced in Category B.

DistributionAllen’s Gallinule is wide-spread in sub-Saharan Africafrom Senegal and theGambia to Ethiopia andsouthwest Somalia, south toNamibia, northern Botswanaand eastern South Africa(Urban et al. 1986), where itinhabits well-vegetatedwetlands up to 1,900 m asl.The species is an intra-African partial migrant, andmost birds migrate north tothe northern tropics at theonset of rains from aboutDecember to March, whenthey often appear in largenumbers (Urban et al. 1986).

Although it appearsclumsy and inefficient in theair over short distances, it issurprisingly adept at sus-tained flight, and vagrantshave been recorded from asfar afield as Ascension Islandand St Helena in the South

Atlantic, the Comoro Islands and RodriguesIsland in the Indian Ocean, and it has evenreached South Georgia, some 4,800 km fromCape Town, South Africa, where it is also avagrant (del Hoyo et al. 1996; Snow & Perrins1998).

Vagrancy to the Western PalearcticUp to the end of 2008, there have been at least 46records of Allen’s Gallinules in the WesternPalearctic. In addition to the two British records,others have occurred in the Azores, the CanaryIslands, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Greece, Italy, Madeira, Malta,Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia. Themajority have occurred between December and

222. Allen’s Gallinule Porphyrio alleni before preparation at NHM,Tring.Ka

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223. Skin and wing of prepared specimen of Allen’s Gallinule Porphyrio alleni at NHM,Tring. Note that the skull has been removed and replaced

with a plaster cast.

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402 British Birds 102 • July 2009 • 399–402

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February, supporting the idea of northwarddispersal associated with rains in the northerntropics. Many of the birds that reach Europearrive exhausted and are often in poorcondition. Occasionally, some survive thejourney well, including a juvenile that reachedGran Canaria in December 2008 (plates 224 &225). During the weeks prior to the discovery ofthe Portland bird, two exhausted juveniles,presumably affected by similar meterologicalconditions, were found in Spain: on Mallorca on8th January – the first for the island – andBenidorm on 26th January. Both were taken intocare and released several days later.

PostscriptMartin Cade concluded his report (Cade 2002)with a touching reflection on the coincidence ofthis important event occurring within sight ofWeymouth, the birthplace and final resting placeof William Allen (1793–1864), after whom thebird was named (Mearns & Mearns 1988).

References

Bannermann, D.A. 1963. The Birds of the British Isles.Vol. 12.Oliver & Boyd, London and Edinburgh.

British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU). 1974. RecordsCommittee: Eighth Report. Ibis 116: 578–579.

— 2005. Records Committee: 31st Report. Ibis 147:246–250.

Cade, M. 2002.The Allen’s Gallinule in Dorset.Birding World 15: 58–59.

del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J. 1996. Handbook of theBirds of the World.Vol. 3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Gurney, J. H. 1902. Ornithological notes for 1901 fromNorfolk and the north of Suffolk. Zoologist, Ser. 4, 6:81–100, 150.

Hudson, R. 1974.Allen’s Gallinule in Britain and thePalearctic. Brit. Birds 67: 405–413.

Mearns, B., & Mearns, R. 1988. Biographies for Birdwatchers.Academic Press, London.

Snow, D.W., & Perrins, C. M. 1998. The Birds of the WesternPalearctic. Concise edition. OUP, Oxford.

Taylor, M., Seago, M.,Allard, P., & Dorling, D. 1999. The Birdsof Norfolk. Pica Press, Robertsbridge.

Urban, E. K., Fry, C. H., & Keith, S. 1986. The Birds of Africa.Vol. 2.Academic Press, London.

Witherby, H. F., & Ticehurst, N. F. 1908. On the moreimportant additions to our knowledge of British birdssince 1899. Part XIV. Brit. Birds 2: 146–150.

—, Jourdain, F. C. R.,Ticehurst, N. F., & Tucker, B.W.1938–41. The Handbook of British Birds.Witherby,London.

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224 & 225. Juvenile Allen’s Gallinule Porphyrio alleni, Maspalomas, San Bartolomé de Tirajana,Gran Canaria, December 2008.

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Katrina Cook, Natural History Museum, Akeman Street, Tring, Hertfordshire HP23 6AP