Descriptive List of the Common Birds 



band down each side of the neck. Wings black 

 and white. Lower parts white with a black 

 gorget across the breast. Tail feathers white, 

 except the two median ones, which are brown. 



Breeding plumage : A long black pheasant- 

 like tail is assumed, and the other parts are 

 black, save the head, throat, and wings, which 

 are white, and the back of the neck, which is 

 golden yellow. This Jagana looks in breeding 

 plumage (i.e. in the summer) rather like a 

 silver pheasant, and, indeed, Europeans call it 

 the water-pheasant. It is a beautiful creature 

 in its summer splendour. Finn says that it is 

 to his mind " the most beautiful of all our 

 smaller aquatic birds, and hardly equalled in 

 this respect by any bird w^hatever." 



Its peculiar wailing cry has been likened to 

 the mew of a kitten. 



7 he Lapwings, 183 and 184 



183. Sarcogrammus iiidicus : The Red-wat- 

 tled Lapwing. (F. 1431), (J. 855), ( + IV.) 

 This is the familiar " Did-you-do-it." 

 Head, neck, and upper breast black. There 

 is a broad white band running from the eye 

 down the whole length of the neck. The back 

 and wings are bronzy brown, black, and white, 



