358 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



that it is enabled to make its way rapidly through 

 the meadows without being perceived, so that one 

 moment it may be close at hand, and in the next 

 be at the far side of the field without our being 

 able to discover in what manner it has changed its 

 situation." * 



Parra,-\- the Jacana. 



This is a singular genus of foreign birds, remark- 

 able for the enormous length of the toes, armed like- 

 wise with long nails, which structure enables them 

 to walk with freedom over the floating leaves of 

 water-lilies and similar plants. The face and throat 

 are furnished with fleshy wattles, and the shoulder 

 of the wing is armed with a sharp spur. They are 

 brilliantly coloured birds, inhabiting tropical Ame- 

 rica and western Asia, and are said to be noisy and 

 quarrelsome in their manners. 



Fulica,^ the Coot. 



We now discover a manifest approximation to the 

 true Waterbirds ; the bill, shortened and flattened, 

 runs up on the forehead in the manner of many of 

 the Ducks, and the toes, though not united by a 

 continuous web, are yet dilated by a broad scalloped 

 membrane at their edges, which answers the same 

 purpose quite as effectually. The Coots are, in 

 fact, more aquatic than terrestrial in their habits, 



* Hort. Reg. Nov. 1831, p. 2J8. 



t The Latin name of an unknown bird. J Its Latin name. 



