Shufkldi' : ( )si'i:()i,o(;\' oi nil': T.imuof.^.. 67 



Parra and Ale/opiJiiis the ilia are wider and more expanded anterior]\. 

 The ])Ostacetal)ular ridge has hardly any median projec lion ; and Uie 

 pelvis is widest, dorsally, just behind the antitrochantcrs. 'I'he ])lates 

 of bone between the isehia and sacrum are narrower, and the ])Osterior 

 j)art ol the renal lbss;t' less well developed, and more oi)en in eonse- 

 (juenee. In all these points these forms thus approach the Limicoline 

 birds." 



After showing the peculiarly expanded radius present in some of the 

 genera of the Fanidcc, and illustrating it by a drawing of the wm^g- 

 \)OX\ts oi Mctopidiiis alhiniicha (Coll. Sci. INTem., pp. 227, 228, Fig. 

 3), he adds: "In Parra Jacana and P. gy/zuiostoi/ia the radius pre- 

 sents the ordinary form ; and the same is the case in Hydropliasianiis 

 chinm^iis. . . . The ' claw ' or ' spur ' of the wing of the Jacanas 

 has, it may be observed, no relation whatever to the ' claw ' or nail 

 of the })olle.\, which is also ])resent, though small, in all the three 

 genera 1 have examined. The ' sijur,' in Parra jacaiia at least, con- 

 sists of an external, translucent, yellow epidermic layer, which invests 

 a central core of com])act fibrous tissue, this in turn being supported 

 by a bon\- projection de\elo])ed at the radial side of the first meta- 

 carpal." 



"As regards the position of the Parrichv in the grouj) Pluviales, it 

 appears to me that they form a well-marked familv, with no very obvi- 

 ous relationshijis to any of the other families of that group, api)roaching, 

 however, ])erha])s most nearly to the Charadriida^, from which they 

 are easily distinguishable b\- the absence of supraorbital glands and 

 occipital foramina, by their enormously elongated toes, by the number 

 of rectrices, and other points. A brief definition of the Parridas may 

 be given as follows : ' ' 



" C'haradriiform birds, with ten rectrices, short csca, and a tufted 

 oil-gland : with the ambiens, accessory femoro-caudal, and accessory 

 semitendinosus muscles developed, and with the obturator internus 

 triangular ; with a two-notched sternum, and with the digits, includ- 

 ing the hallux, greatly developed ; with the skull provided with basi- 

 pterygoid processes, but lacking occi|)ilal foramina and supraorbital 

 gland-de|)ressions. ' ' 



I am inclined to dei^arl somewhat from this finding of Forljes, and 

 although I l)elie\e that the Jacanas belong among the Limicolae, as we 

 have here placed them, 1 am inclined to think that their relationship 

 to certain of the Sandpipers is closer than it is with any of the Plovers. 



