360 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus HYDROPHASIANUS, Wagl 



709. HYDROPHASIANUS CHIRURGUS. 

 THE PHEASANT-TAILED JACANA. 



Tringa chirurgus, Scop. Del Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii. p. 92. Parra sinensis, Gm. 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 709; Kelliam, Ibis, 1882, p. 185. Hydrophasianus chirurgus, 

 Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 709 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 592 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 185 ; 

 Salvad. Ucc. Bom. p. 343 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 483 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. 

 vi. p. 464 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 113 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 914 j Oates, S. F. 

 x. p. 241. Hydrophasianus sinensis, Bl. fy Wald. B. Burm. p. 157. 



Description. Male and female in summer. Forehead, crown, sides of the 

 head, chin, throat and fore neck white ; a patch on the hinder part of the 

 crown black ; nape, hind neck and extreme upper part of back shining 

 golden yellow, this yellow separated everywhere from the white of the 

 head and neck by a black line; back, scapulars, tertiaries, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts chocolate-brown, the latter darkest ; tail black ; upper wing- 

 coverts and primary-coverts creamy white, the latter tipped with brown ; 

 first and second primaries black with a little white at base ; the third with 

 a broad white band on the inner web ; the others white, edged and tipped 

 with black ; secondaries all white ; the whole lower plumage from the 

 breast chocolate-brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white. 



Male and female in winter. Lores and a supercilium whitish; chin, 

 throat and fore neck white ; a band from the gape passing under the eye, 

 over the ear-coverts and round the fore neck, forming a pectoral band, 

 black ; remainder of the lower plumage, under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 pure white ; forehead blackish barred with white ; a broad band from just 

 above the ear-coverts, passing down the sides of the neck, and bordering 

 the black line already described, golden yellow ; crown, the whole upper 

 plumage, tertiaries and scapulars hair-brown ; lesser and median coverts 

 hair-brown, more or less barred with black ; greater wing-coverts pure 

 white ; primary-coverts and quills as in summer ; some of the longer tail- 

 coverts barred with black and white on the outer webs ; central tail-feathers 

 hair-brown, the others white. 



In summer the tail is very long ; in winter of moderate length, barely 

 exceeding the wings. At both seasons the first three primaries have long 

 narrow appendages at their tips, and the tips of the fourth and fifth prima- 

 ries are much produced in a pointed form. 



The bird of the year has the crown bright rusty ; the hind neck mixed 

 rusty and brown ; the whole upper plumage, lesser and median wing-coverts 

 and tertiaries brown, each feather very broadly edged with rusty; remainder 

 of the wing as in the adult ; tail white except the central pair of feathers, 

 which are rusty brown ; there are indications of the black line down the 



