NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. jjt^ 



FAMILY— P^UIRID^ : PARRAS. 



596. — Hydralectok GALLiNACEus. Tciuiiuuck. (569) 



UOMB-CRESTED J AC AN A (PARRA). 



Figure. — Gould : Birds oJ Australia, fol., vol. vi , pi. 75. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mas., vol. xxiv., p. 79. 



Previous Deseriftions 0] Eggs. — Gould ; Birds o£ Australia (1848) , 

 also Handbook, vol. li., p. 332 (1865) ; Ramsay : Ibis, p. 417, 

 pi. 8, fig. 3 (1867) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., pi. 16, fig. 8 

 (1889). 



Geographical Distribution. — North-west AiLstralia, Northern Terri- 

 tory, Queenslajid, aud New South Wales; also Celebes aud Boiiico. 



Nest. — Composed of a pile of gi'een aquatic plants, half submerged 

 iu the water of a swamp, or placed upon aquatic vegetation about twenty 

 to forty feet from the shore. Dimensions over all, 6 to 9 inches ; egg 

 cavity, which is flat, 3i inches across. 



Egys. — Clutch, foiu', rarely five ; , pynform or Plover-like in shape ; 

 textiu'e of shell fine ; surface exceedingly glossy ; colour, yellowish-olive, 

 curiously marked all over with interlacing' lines of vai-ioiis widths o4" dark- 

 brown or black, fomiing here and there iiTegular-shaped blotches. On 

 accoimt of theu' singular appearance, these eggs cannot possibly be 

 mistaken for those of any other species. Dimensions iu inches of a 

 proper clutch: (1) 1-2 x -85, (2) 1-2 x -84, (3) M7 x -85, (4) Ml x -81. 

 (Plate 21.) 



Observatiofis. — This remarkable species — remarkable chiefly because 

 of its expansive feet, so beautifully adapted for traversing floating fohage 

 on the siu-face of lakes and lagoons — is a tropical and sub-tropical fonu. 



Dr. Ramsay says ; " I know few more pleasing sights than a troop of 

 this handsome Parra wandering among bright-blue and ci-imson blooms 

 of the giant water-Ulies which abotmd in almost every sheet of water of 

 any extent in North-eastern Queensland. " 



xVlthough the Parra or Jacana is more frequently observed in Northern 

 Australia, ,it is common iii some parts of New South Wales, notably the 

 Clarence River district, said to be its most southern limit.* 



In his work, " Among Cannibals," Lumboltz, mentioning the 

 Parra or Lotus Bird, says : " Its simple nest is built upon the leaves 

 of the water-Uly. The young look frmny, on account of their long legs 

 and big toes as compared with their small bodies." 



' The bird I reported in the " Victorian Naturalist," from Victoria, in the 

 collection of the Government Entomologist (Mr. Charles French) Melbourne, was 

 an error. I subsequently ascertained that although the specimen was purchased 

 as a Victorian species, it really was procured on the Clarence, N.S. Wales. 



