J A C A N A 



floating leaves, and also through the tall aquatic 

 grasses, and the ease with which, when necessary, 

 they can throw themselves so far into the air as to 

 be able to get on the wing. The great elasticity of 

 their toes, and the rapid contraction of these by the 

 bendings of the upper joints of the limbs, are the 

 means by which this is etl'ected. The keen points of 

 the claws, too, enable them to take hold of a stem or 

 a leatj so as to form a point of support with very 

 little pressure. The spur on the wing is not of such 

 apparent utility, but it may also assist the bird in 

 holding- on upon the aquatic herbage until it has ac- 

 quired a footing. Any one who has observed with 

 what swiftness, neatness, and lightness, the common 

 water-hen runs along a brook, when there is only 

 here and there a straggling leaf or stem to afford sup- 

 port, can readily imagine how much more fleetly 

 these birds, whose feet are so much better organised 

 for such an office, can make their way over the 

 waters ; and consequently how difficult it muFt be to 

 obtain a sight of them, more especially as the places 

 which they inhabit are not the most tempting for hu- 

 man visitors. They belong to places where the growth 

 and the production of food for them is constant ; and 

 therefore their breeding-time is not fixed to a parti- 

 cular season. From the attachment which the pair 

 show for each other, and the fact of a pair being 

 generally met with, it has been concluded, not only 

 that the males are strictly monogamous, but that the 

 unions are formed for life. When one is occupied, 

 the other is always watching, and instantly gives the 

 alarm-cry when danger is. near ; or if the alarm-call is 

 given, not from the actual appearance of danger, but 

 from the apprehension of it, the one which is called 

 to responds that all is safe by a sort of subdued and 

 murmuring cry, which has something very pleasant 

 in it. During the day, these birds remain very silent, 

 unless when they are disturbed by unwelcome visiters ; 

 but during the night, when they are in motion, their 

 cries are heard at a great distance, and the sound is 

 by no means agreeable. Their nests are formed in 

 the thick tufts of marsh plants, in a very similar man- 

 ner to those of the long-toed birds of Europe. They 

 are built of rushes and other coarse aquatic plants, of 

 which a great quantity is collected, and placed suffi- 

 ciently high for being above any ordinary inundation. 

 The hatch consists of four or five eggs, of a greenish 

 colour, and mottled with small spots of dark brown, 



The birds of this genus were once supposed to be 

 natives of America only ; but they are found in the 

 marshy parts of all tropical countries. In central 

 Africa, in India, in the Oriental Isles, as well as all the 

 richer parts of tropical America. They are birds 

 which are peculiarly characteristic of the places which 

 they inhabit ; and as they are rarely found in situations 

 which are but occasionally covered with water, and 

 which form the proper pastures of the cranes and 

 storks, they are not much given to migration. Within 

 their localities, their flight, when they do take the 

 wing, is rapid ; but they do not rise to great heights, 

 or fly over long distances.. 



Their proper function in nature appears to be that 

 of cleaning the leaves of aquatic plants, of which there 

 are vast numbers in tropical countries, from insects 

 and other small animals which are not available either 

 to flying or swimming birds. They take up the waters 

 as a pasture, when the fly-catchers, bee-eaters, and 

 other birds which can use the wing rapidly, there leave 

 ofl'; and they quit them at that particular stap-e where 



887 



they become the pastures of ducks and divers, and 

 other birds which seek their food at the bottom, or 

 submerge in the free waters. We shall now very 

 briefly notice the principal species, the habits of all of 

 which, in so far as they are known, appear to be very 

 much alike. 



THE FAirriFUL JACANA on CHAZA (P. C/invaria) 

 is a South American species, and by no means rare 

 either in the country bordering on the Caribbean Sea, 

 or in the humid parts of Paraguay. It is about the 

 size of a dung-hill cock, and stands about a foot and 

 a half high. The toe? are long, the legs are of a 

 tawny colour, and the bill is dirty white ; a red mem- 

 brane extends over both sides of the base of the bill 

 to the temples, in the centre of which the eyes are 

 placed. The irides are brown ; twelve blackish fea- 

 thers, about three inches long, form a crest on the 

 nape, and the neck is furnished with black down. The 

 body is of a brownish colour, and the wings and tail 

 are brownish black. The wings are furnished with tv\o 

 or three spurs on the turn, which are about half an 

 inch in length. The under parts are dull brownish 

 black, as are also the feathered parts of the tibia?, 

 which arc however short in proportion to the naked 

 parts. The toes are so very long, that they are apt 

 to get entangled with each other when the bird walks 

 on level ground at a faster rate than its usual march- 

 ing pace, which is slow and measured. It is found 

 about the ruers and inundated places, where it is 

 understood to feed indiscriminately upon small animals 

 and vegetable substances. According to the accounts, 

 its instinct of attachment is turned to use in some 

 parts of South America, where the inhabitants keep 

 a single tamed one for the purpose of accompanying 

 their domestic poultry, which it defends from birds of 

 prey by means of the spurs on its wings. In these 

 cases it is said never to desert its charge, but to accom- 

 pany the poultry in all their movements, and defend 

 them with the greatest bravery. 



CHILI JACANA (P. Chilensis). This species is 

 described as not being so aquatic in its habits as most 

 of the species, and it resides on the low and rich 

 plains, but not exactly in the marshes ; and its food 

 consists of insects, worms, and other small ground 

 animals. It measures about ten inches in length ; 

 the upper parts are of a rich chestnut colour ; the 

 forehead, head, neck, breast, abdomen, and larger 

 wing-coverts, are pure black ; the sides, rump, and 

 coverts, and feathers of the tail, are bright chestnut 

 red ; the quills of the wings are clouded with green 

 and yellow, and have black tips ; the lesser coverts 

 are blackish, with white tips ; the under coverts of 

 the wings are reddish, with the webs of the feathers 

 loose and flocculent ; the bill is yellow, covered for 

 the basal half of its length by a red membrane, which 

 proceeds as far as the angles of the eyes ; and then 

 bending upwards, forms two lobes upon the forehead, 

 which are not attached to the forehead, but bend in 

 part over the base of the bill. Those appendages in- 

 dicate a considerable connexion between these birds 

 and poultry. The eg-gs are four in number, of a 

 tawny colour dotted with black, and they are a little 

 larger than those of a common partridge. The male 

 and female are always found together near the nest, 

 and they fight with yreat bravery in defence of their 

 eggs and young. When they perceive any person 

 approaching the place where their nest is situated, 

 they at (irst conceal themselves in the grass or other 

 herbage, but their watchfulness is not thereby abated ; 



