in ornithology, is the name of a very beautiful Brazilian bird, called also yacazintli, and porphyrio Americanus. It is of a fine blackish purple colour, variegated with white; its beak is white while young, but becomes red as it grows older, and has a naked space at its base, resembling in some sort the coot; its legs are of a yellowish green; it lives about the waters, and feeds on fish, yet is a very well tailed bird. It imitates the crowing of a common cock, and makes its music early in the morning.