294 Elliot o?i the Jacuiiidir. |J..ly 



The P;il;enictic RcL;"ion possesses l)ut one species, H. chir7irg-2is ^ 

 which is met with ill the Chinese Empire, where, according to M. 

 D.ivid, it passes the suniincr in the middle provinces. The Nearc- 

 tic Region has hut one species, y.spinosa, met with in various parts 

 of the West Indian Ishinds, and extending southwards through 

 Central America into Colombia of the Neotropical Region. This 

 last region also contains y. nigra, which ranges thiough Cen- 

 tral America and Colombia, and J. jacana, which is distributed 

 generally over a large portion of South America, being abundant 

 in Trinidad, Venezuela, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, Peru, 

 and Bolivia. 



Jacana jacana. 



Parra jacana LiNN. S_yst. Nat. 1766. I, p. 259. — Buff. PI. Enl. 322. — 

 Gmel. Sjst. Nat. 178S, I, p. 707.— ViEiLL. Ency. Meth. 1S23, III, 

 p. 1053, pi. 60, fig. I. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. 1824, desc. and syn. partim, 

 nee. pi. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 1790, II, p. 762.— Sclat. P. Z. S. 1856, 

 p. 282, fartim. — Tayl. Ibis, 1S64, p. 96.— Leot. Ois. Trinid. 1S66, 

 p. 486.— NiTZSCH, Pteryl. 1867, p. 126.— Pelz. Ornith. Bras. 1870, 

 p. 313. — Sclat. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 309. — Layd. Ibis, 1873, 

 p. 396.— IIuDS. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 103.— Tacz. p. Z. S. 1877, p. 329. 

 DuRNF. Ibis, 1877, p. 196.— Forbes, P. Z. S. 1881, pp. 642-647 ; ib. 

 Ibis, 1881, p. 359.— White, P. Z. S. 1S82, p. 627.— Berl. Ibis, 1884, 

 p. 440.— Tacz. Ois. Per. Ill, p. -i^T^x, partim. 



Parra hitermedia Sclat. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 282 (ex Venezuela, Verr.). 



Jacana spi?tosa Stejn. Auk, 1885, p. 338. 



Adult: — Head, neck, and anterior portion of l)ack black witb greeri 

 and purple reflections. Back and wings brigbt chestnut. Primaries and 

 secondaries pale greenish yellow, the latter tipped with brown; the 

 former bordered with the same color, confined to the apical half of the 

 outer web, and the typical portion of the inner except on the first primarj', 

 which has the entire outer web brown. Flanks dark chestnut; breast 

 dull greenish black. Abdomen and under tail-coverts dull purplish. 

 Rump and upper tail-coverts, purplish chestnut. Tail bright chestnut 

 tipped with black. Frontal and side wattles, together Avith base of bill, 

 bright red. Remainder of bill j'ellow. Legs and feet olive. Metacarpal 

 spur extremely sharp. Spurs on shoulder of wing j'cllow. Total length, 

 lo-i; wing, 5^ ; tail, 2^ ; bill (culmen), if inches. 



Tonng: — Top of head brown; a black stripe down back of neck, and 

 one from behind the eye to nape, black. Superciliary stripe yellowish 

 white. Throat, front of neck, and entire underparts white, washed on 

 lower neck and upper part of breast with bufi". Back bronzy broAvn ; 

 wings bronze-green with chestnut feathers interspersed, chiefly on the 



