CUZ 0Gu) 
for a Water-hen, if it had not skimmed daintily over the surface of a 
pond, with such ease ; planting its long toes comfortably on so in- 
secure footholds, as broad round leaves would allow. Lotus being 
more readily selected, which barely gives under the weight of its 
body. These birds breed in India. I have occasionally seen the hen 
sitting quite unconcernedly on her floating nest of weeds and rushes, 
in a quiet secluded corner of a wide partially stagnant nullah in the 
Terai. Eggs of Jacana are beautifully marked with dark wavy lines. 
The female is 12 inches in length ; male about two inches shorter. 
Bill is stout, compressed and thick ; forehead with lappets of skin ; 
tail short ; wings fairly short 2nd and 3rd quills longest ; tarsus 
long ; toes very Jong and thin; claws long and pointed. Typical 
bronzed coloured wings of this species makes it comparatively easy 
to distinguish. 
(901) HypRoPHASIANUS CHIRURGUS, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, is 
not so common in the Terai as. the former species. They are seldom 
met with near foot of the hills. Male is about 18 inches, 10 inches 
of which is the tail, so that it is not a particularly big bird. Long 
pheasant-like tail, which gives it a Game-bird appearance, helps to 
make out this species. In habits it is similar to metopidius indicus. 
Its eggs are not so prettily marked, being an uniform bronze colour, 
bright and glossy. Call of this bird is loud and striking, a sort of 
pee hoo. Jacanas feed much on shells and water-insects, occasionally 
on tender shoots of water plants. Its bill differs from the last 
species, being slender and lacking lappets on the forehead ; also in a 
few other points in structure. 
Famity RALLIDA 
Two groups included in this family, perhaps we might say three 
Coots, Water-hens (Water-fowls) and Rails, are birds which must be 
well known to all. They have a, partially, Game-bird appearance, 
head is small ; neck short ; body differs slightly, being more com- 
pressed in shape ; bill wedge shaped, compressed and pointed ; legs 
strong ; tarsus fairly short. In the Coots, feet are long and webbed. 
(902) PoRPHYRIO POLIOCEPHALUS, Purple Coot. This species 
has a very strong, thick, compressed, conical bill, with a peculiar 
looking casque, on top of the head ; gonys descending ; tail short ; 
tarsus strong; toes long aud bordered in a typical manner, by a 
narrowish web, a structure of web peculiar to Coots, and, perhaps, 
repeated again in a more exaggerated form, in Grebes. This species 
is found in most places in the plains, among reeds ang rushes on 
marshy ground. I have seen both Purple, and Bald Goot on the 
