Shore-bird Shooting 497 



the surface of the water, and if frightened retires 

 to the dense vegetation where we must leave it. 



A remarkable species found in southeastern 

 Asia, with a total length of only eighteen inches, 

 has a tail that is ten inches long. Four of the 

 tail feathers are much longer than the others and 

 arched like those of a pheasant. It builds a flat 

 nest of grass and rushes which floats on the water, 

 attached to the plants growing near. In this, and 

 the six or seven olive-brown eggs it lays, it cer- 

 tainly resembles a rail much more than a shore- 

 bird. 



MEXICAN JACANA 

 / {Jacana spinosa) 



Adjilt male and female — Head, neck, upper part of back, and breast, 

 black, with reflections of purple ; lower back and wings, purplish 

 chestnut ; primaries and secondaries, pale yellowish green, the 

 primaries bordered with blackish brown ; rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail, dark purple ; lower portion of breast and 

 flanks, maroon ; abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts, brown- 

 ish maroon ; a frontal leaf of three lobes, bright orange in color, 

 covers the forehead from the base of the bill ; bill, bright yellow ; 

 a sharp spur on the wing of orange ; iris, brown ; feet and legs, 

 greenish. 



Young — Frontal leaf, yellow, rudimentary; top of head and back of 

 neck, pale brown ; a yellowish white stripe from base of bill to 

 nape ; a black stripe behind the eye, broadening on the neck 

 and upper back ; back and wings, pale brown; primaries and sec- 

 ondaries, yellowish green ; rump and upper tail-coverts, brown ; 

 tail, dark ; upper parts in general, light brown ; chin, throat, 

 sides, and under parts, white, with a tinge of buff; bill, yellow ; 

 legs and feet, olive. 



Downy young — Crown, back, and wings, orange-tawny; nape and 

 hind neck, dusky ; Hues on back, from eye to hind neck, on 

 2 K 



