FAM. XXXV. JACANAS 227 



11. Sage Grouse (309. Centrocercus urojyhasicliius). — Avery 



large, western, much-mottled, dark-colored grouse, with long, 



sharp-pointed tail feathers, and having inflatable, bare skin on 



the sides of the breast. The female has a shorter tail. 



Lengtli, 24-30; whig, 12 (10i-13); tail, 8-13; culmen, I?. Sage- 

 brush regions of tlie Hockj' MouiHains, east to North Dakota, Nebraska, 

 and Colorado, south to New Mexico, and west to California. 



ORDER IX. SHORE BIRDS (LIMICOL^) 

 A large order of plover-like and snipe-like birds, usually 

 found in open places, near the water. They are most of them 

 small ; they have slender and frequently long bills, small and, 

 as a rule, fully feathered heads, long-pointed wings, short 

 tails, and long legs, with more or less of the tibia exposed and 

 bare of feathers. A few species have the legs short and the 

 tibia fully feathered. The hind toe is short and elevated, or 

 completely Avanting (with one exception, the jacana of the 

 first family). With us this order is represented by seven 

 families. 



FAMILY XXXV. JACANAS (JACANID.E) 



A small family (10 species) of peculiar, somewhat .--^^^^ 



plover-like, wading birds, with very long toes and /^ j^ 



long, straight claws, the hind claw fully as long as i 

 the toe.* 



1. Mexican Jacana (288. Jacdna sjnndsa). — A small, Texas, 

 long-legged, long-toed, pnrplish-chestnut-colored, wading bird 

 with a horny, yellow spur on the bend of the wing, and a pecul- 

 iar, yellow, leaf-like lobe of skin extending on the forehead 

 from the plover-like bill. The rich chestnut color is brightest 

 on the wings and tail, and darkest on the back, breast, and 

 sides. The young is grayish-brown above, buffy below, and has 

 but little of the frontal lobe of skin. 



Length, 81 ; wing, 5 (4^-51) ; tail very short and soft ; tarsus, 2 ; mid- 

 dle toe and nail, 2i ; culmen, 1^. Southern Texas, Mexico, and Central 

 America. 



