What is "swamphen"

n. Several species of bird in the genus ''Porphyrio'' of the family Rallidae.

n. any of various small aquatic birds of the genus Gallinula distinguished from rails by a frontal shield and a resemblance to domestic hens [syn: gallinule, marsh hen, water hen]

Porphyrio is the swamphen genus of birds in the rail family. The genus name Porphyrio is the Latin for "swamphen".

It includes some smaller species which are usually called "purple gallinules", and which are sometimes separated as genus Porphyrula or united with the gallinules proper (or "moorhens") in Gallinula. The Porphyrio gallinules are distributed in the warmer regions of the world