104 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



character distinguishing the ja9nnns from the plovers and snipes is the number of 

 rectrices, said to be ten in the former, against twelve or more in the latter. 



All the forms belonging to this very distinct family have a metacarpal 'spur,' 

 which in the genera Jacana and Hydrophasianus is large and sharp, while in the 

 others it is small and blunt. Of this spur Professor Forbes remarks, that it has no 

 relation whatever to the claw or nail of the pollex, which is also present, though 

 small. The spur in Jacana spinosa at least " consists of an external, translucent, 

 yellow epidermic layer, which invests a central core of compact fibrous tissue, this in 

 turn being supported by a bony projection developed at the radial side of the first 

 metacarpal." This spur is a formidable Aveapon, but it seems that the forms in which 

 it is small and blunt have received a compensation for the absence of a real spur in 

 an extraordinary development of the radius. In birds, as a rule, this bone is slenderer 

 than the ulna, but in the members of the genus Metopidius, and probably also in 

 Uydralector cristatus, the radius is dilated and flattened into a sub-triangular lamellar- 

 like expansion for its distal half, as shown in the accompanying cut. The margin of 

 the bone, where it is superficial, is slightly roughened; and no doubt, as Forbes 



remarks, the peculiar form of radius is asso- 

 ciated with the quarrelsome habits of these 

 birds, this dilated and somewhat scirnetar- 

 shaped bone being probably capable of inflict- 

 ing a very severe downward blow. 

 FIG. 48. Cubitus of Metopidius ; h, humerus ; r, The iacanas form a small family of tropi- 



radius ; u, ulna. _ J > 



cal birds, one genus, Jacana (or Parra, as 



it erroneously has been called by most ornithologists), of about four species, being 

 tropical American, with one representative, J. gymnostoma, a native of Central 

 America and Mexico, just entering the United States on the border of Texas; while 

 the one figured is the commonest South American species ; another genus, Metopidius, 

 is Indo-African in its distribution, and Hydralector is Malayan, while Hydrophasianus 

 chirurgus, hails from India and the countries to the east, including the Philippine 

 Islands and Formosa. The latter, which is the pheasant-tailed ja9ana of writers, is a 

 remarkably striking bird. It is devoid of the naked lobes on the head, so character- 

 istic of the true ja9anas, but is especially noticeable for the four enormously elongated 

 tail-feathers, which are gracefully arched like those of a pheasant. The length of the 

 bird is about eighteen inches, the tail alone measuring ten inches. On the authority 

 of Blyth we introduce the following notice of their habits: "These birds breed during 

 the rains, in flooded spots, where the lotus is plentiful, the pair forming a rude, flat 

 nest of grass and weeds, interwoven beneath with the long shoots of some growing, 

 aquatic plant, which retain it buoyant on the surface. Herein are laid six or seven 

 olive-brown, pear-shaped eggs, of an inch and a quarter in length. Their slender 

 bodies and widely extending toes enable ja9anas to run with facility, apparently 

 on the water, but in reality, wherever any floating leaves or green herbage ineets their 

 light tread. The food consists of the green, tender paddy, or other vegetable growth, 

 dependent on inundation for its production, and the numerous species of insects that 

 abound in such spots. The cry is like that of a kitten in distress, whence their native 

 name of meewah. In flight, the legs are trailed behind like those of the herons. The 

 flesh is excellent." Blyth adds that he has sometimes seen it to all appearance walk- 

 ing on the water, the supports on which its long toes really rested being slight and 

 little visible. Legge says that in Ceylon it is wonderfully numerous on the northern 



