Good point - the territory point is also very relevant here. I've never seen a green lair flip back to purple after my territory expanded to cover it.
The specific case that I'm primarily referencing was an (IIRC) ignys lair in the fire wildland. After conquering the wildland, I planted a couple cities, but my sov was needed elsewhere, so he immediately ran off after I finished cleaning out the remaining monster stacks, leaving this one lair behind, since it was green and therefore no threat. It was positioned just right so that neither city's territory covered the lair and, after many turns (I would guess maybe 20 or so, but wasn't keeping track), the lair released a new monster stack and reverted to purple. Aside from the color change, I also know that the monsters had to have come from that lair because it was bordered by my territory on two sides and by mountains on the other two.
I know I've seen it happen other times, but that's the one that mainly sticks in my head, probably because it was the first time that I noticed a lair having definitely come back to life.