298 : CHARADRITFORMES CHAP. 
Parra jacana, ranging from Ecuador and Guiana to Bolivia and 
Argentina, has a red frontal lappet, bilobed posteriorly, a red wattle 
at each side of the gape, an orange bill, olive feet, and a well-devel- 
oped yellow carpal spur. The plumage is chestnut, with greenish- 
black head, neck, and under parts, maroon sides, and yellow remiges, 
the wing- and tail-quills being tipped with brownish-black.  P. 
melanopygia of Panama and Colombia is darker and more maroon 
above; P. nigra, of those countries and Venezuela, is entirely 
egreenish-black, except for the wines; P. gymnostoma (variabilis), 
found from South Texas to Costa Rica, with Cuba, Porto Rico, 
and Haiti, has the frontal lappet trilobed, lacks the rictal wattles, 
and in colour resembles P. melanopygia, though the maroon ex- 
tends to the belly. The young in this genus are chiefly bronzy- 
brown above and buffish-white below ; and the nestlings—at least 
in P. gymnostoma—are curiously marked with tawny, black, buff, 
and white.  Metopidius indicus, occurring from India to Cochin 
China, and in Sumatra, Java, and Celebes, has a large blue frontal 
shield, small blunt spurs, and no rictal wattles; the bill is pink, 
blue, and green; the feet are slaty. The head, neck, remiges, and 
under parts are greenish-black, varying to purple, the chin and 
superciliary streak are white, the mantle is bronze, the lower back 
maroon, and the tail chestnut. The young are much greener above 
than in the last genus. JZ albinucha of Madagascar and Jf. afri- 
canus of most of the Ethiopian Region have a smaller shield, loosely 
connected behind, which is grey in the former, leaden blue in the 
latter, as are the bill and feet. The cinnamon-brown plumage is 
varied in the first-named by a black occiput and throat and white 
nape, in its congener by a white neck, black nape, and golden upper 
breast. The tailis chestnut and the primaries black. The very small 
Microparra capensis, of South and South-East Africa, has no shield or 
wattles, and is greyish-brown, becoming orange on the crown, rump, 
and tail; the nape and upper mantle are purplish-black, the wings 
blackish with a white alar bar, the under parts white with golden 
sides to the neck. The bill and feet are brownish, the spur in 
this genus and the next being as in Metopidius. Hydralector 
gallinaceus, ranging from Borneo and Celebes to New Guinea and 
Australia—if Hl. novae guineae be not separated—is chiefly black ; 
the back being greyish-olive, the throat and abdomen white, the 
cheeks, with the sides and front of the neck, golden. A red lappet 
with an erect central protuberance covers the forehead; the bill is 
