it was reintroduced to Sicily. A small "purple swamphen" population in central Italy is the result of grey-headed swamphens that escaped from a zoo. Little is known about the status of the western swamphen in Africa, but northeastern Algeria is considered one of its strongholds in this region. When protected, western swamphens are able to thrive in human-managed habitats, and in some places they live in paddy fields, resulting in conflicts with farmers as they can be destructive to the rice. References Leo, Roger (2006). 'Shorebirds in Art: Looking at history through the purple swamphen'. Sanctuary: The Journal of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Summer 2006, 45 (4):18-19 Taylor, Barry and Van Perlo, Ber Rails (a volume in the Helm Identification Guides series) External links western swamphen Birds of Africa Birds of Eurasia western swamphen western swamphen