464 JACANA 
Very little is known of the habits of any of the species. They are 
seen sitting motionless on trees, sometimes solitarily, at other times 
in companies, whence they suddenly dart off at any passing insect, 
catch it on the wing, and return to their perch. Of their niditica- 
tion almost nothing has been recorded, but the species above- 
mentioned as occurring in Tobago is said by Mr. Kirk (Ann. and 
Mag. Nat. Hist. xix. p. 80)—apparently the only European observer 
of the mode of propagation in these birds—to make its nest in 
marl-banks, digging a hole about an inch and a half in diameter 
and some 18 inches deep. From the accounts received by other 
travellers we may possibly infer that more of the Family possess 
the same habit. 
JACANA,! the Brazilian name, according to Marcgrave, of 
certain birds, since found to have allies in other parts of the world, 
which are also very generally called by the same appellation. They 
have been most frequently classed with the Rallidx (AIL), but are 
now admitted to form a separate Family, Parridx,? whose leaning 
is towards the Limicolx, as apparently first suggested by Blyth, a 
view supported by the osteological observations of Parker (Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 513), though denied by Prof. A. Milne-Edwards 
(Ois. Foss. France, ii. p. 110). The most obvious characteristic of 
this group of birds is the extraordinary length of their toes and 
claws (the latter being turned upwards), whereby they are enabled 
to walk with ease over water-lilies and 
other aquatic plants growing in rivers 
and lakes. It is also remarkable for 
the carpal spurs with which its mem- 
bers are armed. The Family has been 
divided into four genera, — of which 
Parra, as now restricted, inhabits South 
America; IMetopidius, hardly differing from it, has representatives in 
Africa, Madagascar and the Indian Region ; Hydralector, also very 
nearly allied to Parra, belongs to the northern portion of the 
Australian Region ;° and Hydrophasianus, the most extravagant 
form of the whole, is found in India, Ceylon and China — the 
Parra. (After Swainson.) 
p- 3906), of a bird of this species in Lincolnshire requires notice. No instance 
seems to be known of any Jacamar having been kept in confinement or 
brought to this country alive. 
' In pronunciation the ¢ is soft, and the accent placed on the last syllable. 
* The classic Parra is by some authors thought to have been the Golden 
ORIOLE, while others suppose it was a Jay or Pie. The word seems to have been 
imported into Ornithology by Aldrovandus, but the reason which prompted 
Linneus to apply it, as he seems first to have done, to a bird of this group, 
cannot be satisfactorily stated. 
* The species inhabiting Queensland, H. cristatus or gallinaceus, is said to be 
there known as the ‘‘ Lotus-bird” (Lumholtz, Among Cannibals, p: 22). 
