GALLINULE, the name applied to several aquatic birds of the family Rallidae, especially to two North American species, the purple gallinule (lonornis martinicus), which ranges over tropical and sub-tropical America north to Illinois and South Carolina; and the Florida gallinule (Gallinula galeata), which breeds north to Maine, Quebec and central California, wintering from southern California and the Gulf States southwards. Both species are about 13in. long and resemble the moorhen (q.v.) in appearance and habits.