Jacanas 383 



playing the wings, which they do by raising them over their heads, and Hudson 

 states of the Common Jacana of the Plata district (Jacana jacana), that "when 

 several of these birds live in company, occasionally they all in a moment leave 

 their feeding, and with quick, excited notes, and clustering together in a close 

 group, go through a singular and very pretty performance, all together holding 

 their wings outstretched and agitated, some with a rapid fluttering, others with 

 a slow-moving, leisurely motion like that of a butterfly sunning itself. The 

 performance over, the birds peaceably scatter again." The nests of the Jacanas 

 are very simple structures, placed usually on masses of floating weeds amongst 

 reeds or sometimes on the ground near the water. They lay very glossy eggs, 

 usually four in number, of a buff, yellowish brown, or olive ground-color and 

 more or less thickly spotted with brown, though in some cases the spots are 

 absent. 



The Jacanas number about a dozen species disposed among some five or 

 more genera, of which the typical one Jacana is confined to the New World 

 and is distinguished by the presence of an upright, leaf-like, fleshy wattle on 

 the forehead. Of these the Mexican Jacana (J. spinosa} is found from the lower 

 Rio Grande valley in Texas throughout the whole of middle America and the 

 Greater Antilles. It attains a length of about nine inches and has the upper parts, 

 including the neck and chest, of a greenish or purplish black, the lower parts of 

 a rich purplish chestnut, and the flight-feathers of the wings a clear greenish 

 yellow or apple-green color. The bill is bright yellow and the wattle in life is 

 said to be red or orange. 



The largest and handsomest member of the group is the Pheasant-tailed 

 Jacana (Hydrophasis chirurgus} of the Indian peninsula and the Indo-Chinese 

 countries, and is the only representative of its genus. In the winter plumage 

 the upper parts are mainly brown, slightly mixed with white, and the lower parts 

 white, as are the wing-coverts and outer tail-feathers, while there is a line of pale 

 brownish yellow running down each side of the neck, this bordered with black, 

 which expands into a broad collar of black on the breast. In the breeding 

 plumage the head, throat, and fore neck are white, the crown black, the hind neck 

 golden yellow, bordered by a black line, while the remainder of the upper and 

 lower parts are mainly chocolate -brown or blackish; the tail, then very greatly 

 lengthened, is black. The sexes are alike at all times, the female exceeding the 

 male in size. In winter plumage the male is only about twelve inches long and 

 in breeding plumage about eighteen inches, while the female attains a length of 

 fourteen and some twenty-one inches at these respective seasons. Another 

 feature of interest is the modification of the tips of the first and fourth primaries. 

 This species frequents rather open pieces of water and is not especially careful 

 in concealing itself; its cry is said to resemble the mewing of a kitten. The nest 

 is the usual floating structure, and the four exceedingly glossy eggs are brown or 

 greenish bronze and unspotted. 



The other Indian and Oriental species is the Bronze-winged Jacana (Meto- 

 pidius indlcm}, also the sole member of its genus. It is smaller than the other, 

 has no distinct breeding plumage, and lacks also the lappet and modified tips 



