METOPODIUS. 633 



Gen. Metopodius. Wagl. 



Bill moderate, stout, compressed, thick at the base, the culmen curved a* 

 the tip ; forehead with a carbuncle ; tail short ; nostrils small, ovate ; 2nd and 

 3rd quills of wing longest ; feet very large ; toes slender and long; claws very 

 long, especially of the hind toe. 



1318. MetOpOdiUS IndiCUS (Lath.), Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 708 ; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 591 ; id., Sir. F. iii. p. 183 ; Blyih, B. 

 Burnt, p. 157 ; Butler, Str. F. iv. p. 19 ; Armstrong, t. c. p. 348 ; Qates, B. 

 Br. Burin, ii. p. 358. Parra indica, Lath., Ind. Orn. ii. p. 765 ; Salvad., 

 Ucc. Born. p. 342; Oates, Str. F. vi. p. 165 ; Hume and Dav., t. c. p. 464; 

 Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 113 ; Oates, Str. F. x. p. 241. The BRONZE- WINGED 



J AC AN A. 



Whole head, neck all round, upper back, and whole lower plumage black 

 glossed with green, the upper back glossed with purplish ; lower back, scapulars, 

 tertiaries and wing coverts glossy bronze; rump and upper tail coverts, also the 

 flanks, tail and under tail coverts maroon; vent and thigh coverts brown, 

 tinged with maroon and streaked with white ; primaries and secondaries 

 black, the later ones bronze on their outer webs; chin and throat whity brown ; 

 supercilium reaching to the nape white ; bill with the basal half of upper 

 mandible and frontal shield livid blue; rest of upper mandible and whole of 

 the lower one green ; irides brown ; legs and feet slaty colour. 



Length. 10'5 inches; tail 2; wing 6'2 ; tarsus 2*6; bill from gape 1*3. 

 Females are slightly larger. 



Hab. India generally, also the Indo-Burmese Countries, but not in the 

 drier northern parts as Sind, Punjab, and Rajpootana. Affects jheels marshes, 

 large swamps and weedy tanks. Breeds during the monsoon, making a float- 

 ing nest in some sequestered part of a jheel or marsh. Eggs 67 in number, 

 moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end; the ground 

 colour varies from a pale stone colour to a reddish olive brown, highly polished, 

 marked with fine lines of blackish brown. 



Sub-Family, PARKING. 



General characters of the Family; feet large ; toes and claws very long and 

 thin, to enable the species to walk on marshy or oozy ground and aquatic 

 plants. 



Gen. Hydrophasianus. 



1st and 2nd quill of wing equal and longest; primaries with lanceolate 

 appendage to the tips ; bill more slender than in Metopidius ; forehead with- 

 out a frontal shield; tail long; central feathers much elongated in the breed- 

 ing season. 



VOL. II. 82 



