340 C2DICNEMID7.—PARRID. 
southward to the Rio Branco in Upper Amazonia. Its habits are somewhat similar to 
those of the Old-World @. crepitans. Near Huamachal in Guatemala, Salvin met 
with a considerable number of these birds, frequenting the grassy savanas between the 
lagoons. He used to see them every day, and on one occasion found a nest with a 
single egg. The birds ery out at night, after the manner of @. crepitans, and the 
notes of the two species are very similar °. 
Sumichrast met with @. bistriatus at Tapana, Tehuantepec, and says that it is 
very common on both coasts of Mexico®. In Honduras, George Cavendish Taylor 
found it inhabiting the plain between La Brea and Nacaome, as well as the open part 
of the plain of Comayagua!4. Mr. Nutting says that in Nicaragua “this curious bird 
is gregarious, and lives in the pastures surrounding the haciendas, where it makes 
itself useful in eating the various insects that annoy and injure the cattle. On this 
account it is protected by the inhabitants of the country ” 1. 
Owen, writing on May dth, 1861, observes:—“I have only been able to obtain 
one egg of this bird. Their nesting-time must have been long past, judging from the 
size of the young which may be seen on the plains. The egg closely resembles that 
of @. crepitans, being of a pale ochreous brown, spotted all over with shades of dark 
brown. It was deposited on the bare ground, the place chosen being slightly hollowed 
out, and at the foot of a straggling shrub which afforded a slight shade”. 
Signor Festa procured a living specimen of this Thick-knee during his expedition to 
Panama, which he fed upon flesh, soaked bread, and maize. He remarks that the bird 
gave utterance at night-time to a most lamentable cry. 
Fam. PARRIDE. 
The Jacanas constitute a tropical family, which is found in both the Old and New 
Worlds. In America they are distributed over nearly the entire Neotropical Region, 
and one genus, Asarcia, extends into Southern Texas. It is represented im Africa, 
India, China, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia. 
The Parride have, until recent years, been considered to belong to the Ralliformes, 
and their slender bodies, enormously long toes, armed with a straight spur-like claw, 
and their aquatic habits, afforded superficial evidence that they were Ralline birds. 
Subsequent investigation, however, has conclusively proved that the Jacanas are very 
aberrant Limicole, and as the Cidicnemide connect the great mass of the Plovers and 
Snipes with the Bustards, so do the Parride connect them with the Rails. 
In addition to their remarkable external form, there are several anatomical characters 
which distinguish them from the true Plovers. The’ palate is schizognathous and 
basipterygoid processes are present; there are no occipital foramina, the dorsal] 
vertebree are opisthoccelous, and the spinal feather-tract is forked on the back. 
