180 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Jacanine birds with short bills, peculiar facial ornament, long wings, short 
tails, and long toes with very long claws. 
The culmen is short with a notable rhamphotheca, the nostrils pervious and 
placed before the middle of the mandible in a shallow groove ; no groove present 
in the lower mandible. At the base of the mandible arises a large leaf-like lappet 
of bare skin with a thin erect upright comb running up the centre of the head. The 
wing is long and the primaries are normal in shape ; the first primary is longest ; 
the tail is short and rounded, of ten feathers only ; the metatarsus long and regularly 
scutellate in front and behind, the scutes sometimes fusing ; the tibia long and naked 
and regularly scutellate in front and behind ; the toes are very long, not webbed 
either internally or externally ; and the claws are longer, quite straight, and tapering 
to a fine point. The claw of the hind-toe is extraordinarily lengthened, being longer 
than the hind-toe and the metatarsus. 
125. Irediparra gallinaceaA—LOTUS BIRD. 
(Parra gallinacea Temminck et Laugier, Planch. Color. d’Ois., 78¢ livr. (Vol. IV., pl. 464), 
July, 1828: Celebes. Extra-limital.] 
Gould, Vol. VI., pl. 75 (pt. x.), March Ist, 1843. Mathews, Vol. III., pt. 4, pl. 169, Dec. 
31st, 1913. 
Hydralector novehollandie Salvadori, Ornit. Pap. e Mol., Vol. III., p. 309, (pref. Dec.) 
1882: New South Wales. 
Trediparra gallinacea rothschildi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 224, Jan. 3lst, 1912: 
Parry’s Creek, North-west Australia. 
Trediparra gallinacea melvillensis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 3, p. 73, June 28th, 
1912: Melville Island, Northern Territory. 
DistRIBUTION.—New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, North-west Australia. 
Adult male.—Hinder crown, hind-neck, and mantle black like the lower back and 
rump, the feathers tinged with metallic-purple ; back, scapulars, and wings light 
bronze-brown ; lesser upper wing-coverts round the bend of the wing, bastard-wing, 
primary-coverts and quills deep black with a metallic-purple tinge ; tail white at 
the extreme base, the remainder bronze-black ; a short narrow line of black on the 
lores, a white spot in front of the eye ; sides of face, ear-coverts, sides of neck and 
fore-neck golden-buff ; chin and entire throat white ; the feathers of the breast deep 
black with white bases ; sides of body, axillaries, and under wing-coverts uniform 
black ; abdomen, thighs, under tail-coverts, and sides of rump buffy-white ; bill 
—distal half black, extreme tip brown, basal half and frontal plate pale red ; iris 
pale yellow, eyelids blue; feet and legs olive-brown. Total length 205 mm.; culmen 
and comb 37, wing 122, tail 35, tarsus 56. 
Adult female-—Similar to the adult male but larger. Total length 225 mm. ; 
culmen and comb, 44, wing 142, tail 37, tarsus 64. 
Young (bird of the first year) —Differs chiefly from the adult in having the loral 
streak, entire head and nape rufous, the feathers of the back, scapulars, and wings 
with rufous margins, the upper tail-coverts and tail dull black tipped with rufous, 
and the entire under-surface of the body white with a tinge of buff on the fore-neck 
and breast. 
Immature (bird of the second year).—Shows an advance towards the adult 
plumage by the appearance of black intermixed with rufous on the head, the black 
loral streak, the encroachment of black on the sides of the breast, and the outline 
of golden-buff on the sides of the neck and the fore-neck, but still leaves an open 
space on the breast which is completely covered with black in the next stage. 
Nestling (just out of down).—Has a reddish head ; very dark brown hind-neck 
and mantle; upper back brown with rufous edges to the feathers; lower back 
black with rufous edges, giving a barred appearance ; wings buff; under-surface 
white, the frontal plate just showing. 
