PALAMEDEIIXE. 335 



gonys short, and sometimes angulated ; the nostrils lateral, 

 generally placed near the middle of the bill, and longitudinal ; 

 the wings long, and generally armed at the shoulder with an 

 acute spine, or blunt tubercle ; the tail generally short, and 

 slightly rounded ; the tarsi long and slender ; the toes very 

 long, slender, and furnished with long and straight, or short, 

 and slightly curved claws ; the hind toe long, furnished with 

 a more or less long and acute claw. 



. The Sub-Family, PARRIN^E, or Jacanas, 



have the bill lengthened, slender, with the culmen straight 

 at the base, and vaulted at the tip, which is entire ; the nasal 

 groove long and narrow, and the opening of the nostrils, 

 placed in the middle of the bill, small and oval ; the wings 

 more or less long and pointed ; the tail generally short ; the 

 tarsi long and slender; the toes very long, slender, and 

 armed with long slender claws, especially the hind toe. 



Genus PARRA, Linnaeus. 



Bill as long as the head, straight, slender, with the culmen 

 straight from the base, and slightly vaulted and curved to 

 the tip, which is entire ; the sides compressed ; the lateral 

 margins straight, and the gonys short, ascending, and angu- 

 lated ; the nostrils small, oval, medial, and placed in a 

 lengthened groove; wings long, with the first quill rather 

 shorter than the second, the third the longest ; tail very 

 short, and partly concealed by the coverts ; tarsi as long as 

 the middle toe, without the claw, rather slender, and covered 

 with transverse scales ; toes very long and slender, the outer 

 rather longer than the inner toe; the hind toe long; the 

 claws long, especially that of the hind toe, which is extremely 

 acute i the base of bill, and more or less of the head, denudedj 

 and furnished with caruncles. 



626. Parra AMcana, Gmel., Lath., Gen. Syn., V. 

 PI. 17 ; Cuv,, Vol. 3, p. 397 ; Metopidius Africanus, 

 Wagler. 



GENERAL colour, rich cinnamon-brown ; back of head and 

 neck black, tinged with green ; chin and front of neck 

 white, darkening into shining-yellow on the chest, which is 

 divided from the cinnamon of the body by a narrow dark line ; 

 front of head bare, which together with the basal half of 

 the bill is blue in life ; the tip is horn-coloured ; legs dark- 

 green ; claws horn- coloured. Length, 10"; wings, 5J"; 



tail, if. 



This Jacana is decidedly rare in the colony, though I li yvt received 



