Liberia 



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from the St. John's River in 1888 (near Upper Buchanan), 

 and has seen it in Maryland also. The jac^'ana, though offering 

 a superficial resemblance to the rails, belongs in its classification 

 to the plover order. Its feet are large to commence with, but 

 the extreme apparent length of the toes is due to the prolonged 

 claws. The coloration is red and umber-brown, black on the 

 head and face, white cheeks and neck, and a golden breast. 

 The beak and very small frontal shield are leaden blue. This 

 African ja^ana has mere knobs at the wrist-joint of the wing, 

 no sharp or stout spur like its Asiatic and South American 

 congeners. 



Among the plovers may be noted the common West 

 African spur-winged wattled plover {Xiphidop terns alhkeps). 

 Here, as in other parts ot Africa, this bird is very " cheeky," 

 knowing that it is not a favourite article of food, owing to its 

 bitter flesh. It haunts the banks of rivers and swamps, and 

 irritates the human stranger by its loud cries, as it flaps about 

 in front of him with partly extended wings, elevated white crest, 

 and pendent, lemon-coloured wattles. This bird has a strong 

 spur on the wrist-joint of the wing, the object of which is not 

 very clear, as it does not seem to use it f^r fighting. Very 

 possibly in Liberia (as, according to my own observations, in 

 other parts of Africa) it acts as the crocodile's friend, warning 

 this reptile when on land of the approach of human enemies, 

 and attending to the toilet of the crocodile's teeth. The latter, 

 in lazy good humour, opens its mouth to allow the spur-winged 

 plover to pick pieces of decaying flesh or intrusive grubs or 

 worms from between the interstices of the white teeth. 



The omnipresent curlew {Niimenius) is to be seen on the 

 Liberian coast, frequenting the mud-flats of the river estuaries. 

 It is migratory, apparently. In Eastern Liberia a specimen of 

 the Red phalarope {^Crymophilus fidicarius) was obtained by 



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