PARRIDJ!;. 707 



feed on seeds and vegetable matter as well as insects. The females 

 are usually larger than the males ; they nidificate on the ground 

 among reeds and grass, or in flojiting nests, lay several eggs, and 

 the young run soon after they are hatched. A few are migratory. 

 They have often loud and peculiar calls. 



The body is usually much compressed ; the sternum very narrow 

 with one fissure, the stomach muscular, and the intestines long, 

 with one or two cseca. As previously stated (vide p. 604), some 

 of them are not very distantly removed from the Ostriches and 

 Cassowaries, and they have also some resemblance to Megapodius. 

 They are divided into two families, Parridce and Rallida. 



Fam. PARRIDiE. 



Syn. PalamedeidcB, Gray. 



Feet enormous; claws much lengthened ; bill moderate, com- 

 pressed ; wings spurred or tubercled. 



There are two groups in this family, the one PaJamedeince 

 confined to the warmer regions of America ; and the other Parrince 

 or Jacanas, found in all tropical and sub-tropical regions. 



Sub-fam. Parrin^. 



Of small or moderate size ; feet and claws enormously long, thin. 



The Jacanas, as these birds are called in America, (by 

 which name they are also tolerably well known in India,) are 

 birds frequenting weedy tanks and jheels ; their long toes 

 enable them to walk with ease on the floating plants. They have 

 a double moult, the breeding plumage being rich and shining ; in 

 one genus the tail feathers also become excessively elongated at 

 this season. They make a floating nest of herbage, and their 

 etrgs are of a rich olive brown with or without dark lines. 

 Their flight is strong, but somewhat irregular and flapjjing, not 

 hurried and regular as tliat of the Rails in general. They differ 

 considerably from the R/illidcB in structure, in the more plump form 

 of the body, the colour of the eggs, and the general appearance 

 and gait, and Blyth at one time considered them allied to the Plo- 

 yers ; their huge feet however bring them into the present tribe, of 



