ORDER GRALL.l.. 3S'J 



proportioned, and are also destitute of the means of quick 

 escape afforded to the one in question. The avoset, in this 

 respect, possesses a fineness of perception far superior to what 

 is remarked in most other birds. It is not only approached 

 with extreme difficulty, but it knows well how to avoid all the 

 snares which may be laid for it ; and, finding an assured sub- 

 sistence in the places which it habitually frequents, its lot is 

 by no means one deserving of pity. 



The avosets of Europe and America constantly prefer cold 

 and temperate climate to hot countries, and the shores of the 

 sea to the mouths of streams and rivers. Their migTations 

 are determined by the want or abundance of food; but 

 though naturally voyaging birds, they remain in some 

 places all the year round, as for instance in the neighbourhood 

 of Feversham, in this country. 



We now come to the family of Macrodactylus, begin- 

 ning with the Jacanas. 



These birds are inhabitants of the marshes of warm climates. 

 They walk with great facility over the large aquatic plants, 

 by means of their long toes. Their flight is straight and 

 horizontal. They are noisy and quarrelsome, never conceal- 

 ing themselves, and walking more in the day time than in the 

 morning and evening. They enter the water as far as the 

 knee, but do not swim. Their food consists in aquatic 

 insects. They are found in Asia, Africa, and the different 

 countries of America, situated under the tropics. They are 

 monogamous, and make a nest on the ground in the grass, in 

 which they deposit from four to five eggs. The young 

 follow the parents immediately after tlieir birth. 



Lefebvre des Haies, who studied the manners of the common 

 species ( Parra Jacana), at St. Domingo, furnished BufFon 

 with details on the subject, from which it appears, that these 

 birds go in, couples, and when by any chance they are sepa- 

 rated, they recal each other with a peculiar cry. Their 



