298 CHARADRIIFORMES CHAP. 



Parra jacana, ranging from Ecuador and Guiana to Bolivia and 

 Argentina, has a red frontal lappet, bilobed posteriorly, a red wattle 

 at each side of the gape, an orange bill, olive feet, and a well-devel- 

 oped yellow carpal spur. The plumage is chestnut, with greenish- 

 black head, neck, and under parts, maroon sides, and yellow remiges, 

 the wing- and tail-quills being tipped with brownish-black. P. 

 melanopygia of Panama and Colombia is darker and more maroon 

 above; P. nigra, of those countries and Venezuela, is entirely 

 greenish-black, except for the wings ; P. gymnostoma (variabilis), 

 found from South Texas to Costa Rica, with Cuba, Porto Rico, 

 and Haiti, has the frontal lappet trilobed, lacks the rictal wattles, 

 and in colour resembles P. melanopygia, though the maroon ex- 

 tends to the belly. The young in this genus are chiefly bronzy- 

 brown above and bumsh-white below ; and the nestlings at least 

 in P. gymnostoma are curiously marked with tawny, black, buff, 

 and white. Metopidius indicus, occurring from India to Cochin 

 China, and in Sumatra, Java, and Celebes, has a large blue frontal 

 shield, small blunt spurs, and no rictal wattles ; the bill is pink, 

 blue, and green ; the feet are slaty. The head, neck, remiges, and 

 under parts are greenish-black, varying to purple, the chin and 

 superciliary streak are white, the mantle is bronze, the lower' back 

 maroon, and the tail chestnut. The young are much greener above 

 than in the last genus. M. albinucha of Madagascar and M. afri- 

 canus of most of the Ethiopian Region have a smaller shield, loosely 

 connected behind, which is grey in the former, leaden blue in the 

 latter, as are the bill and feet. The cinnamon-brown plumage is 

 varied in the first-named by a black occiput and throat and white 

 nape, in its congener by a white neck, black nape, and golden upper 

 breast. The tail is chestnut and the primaries black. The very small 

 Microparra capensis, of South and South-East Africa, has no shield or 

 wattles, and is greyish-brown, becoming orange on the crown, rump, 

 and tail ; the nape and upper mantle are purplish-black, the wings 

 blackish with a white alar bar, the under parts white with golden 

 sides to the neck. The bill and feet are brownish, the spur in 

 this genus and the next being as in Metopidius. Hydralector 

 gallinaceus, ranging from Borneo and Celebes to New Guinea and 

 Australia if If. novae guineae be not separated is chiefly black ; 

 the back being greyish-olive, the throat and abdomen white, the 

 cheeks, with the sides and front of the neck, golden. A red lappet 

 with an erect central protuberance covers the forehead ; the bill is 



