ORDER GRALL.E. 539 



April or May. As soon as the young are in a state to fly, 

 they follow the mother, who gradually accustoms them to 

 seek subsistence alone, after which they quit her. The flesh 

 of the young, though black, is good eating ; but that of the 

 old is hard, and less agreeable to the taste. 



The Chat A of Paraguay, which now forms a distinct genus, 

 is the bird of which the opposite is a figure, under the 

 name of the Faithful Jacana (Parra Chavaria). It 

 has many relations, both with the jacanas and the genus just 

 noticed. 



These birds are found near Carthagena, and on the two 

 sides of the river Plata, in places where the water is low, and 

 especially in marshes. They do not seek, like the herons, fish 

 and frogs, but their aliment seems rather to consist in aquatic 

 plants. On the ground their walk is grave ; they keep the 

 body in a horizontal position, the legs apart, and the head 

 and neck in a vertical line. Wlien they rise into the air they 

 make, like the vultures, long circuits, until they are lost 

 sight of. They also perch on the summits of the largest 

 trees. M. d'Azara was not enabled to ascertain exactly the 

 places in which they build their nests, some informing him 

 that it was on bushes surrounded with water, others, that it 

 was in reeds and rushes. It would appear that the brood, 

 which takes place in August, consists but of two young ones, 

 which, while they are yet covered with simple down, com- 

 mence to follow the mother. 



Though the arms of the chaia, its ornaments, the volume 

 of its body, and its sonorous voice, all give it the appearance 

 of a warrior bird, its character is rather mild ; but it will not 

 permit the approach of birds of rapine, and is particularly 

 at war with the virubu vulture. Accordingly, the inhabi- 

 tants of the countries in which it is found rear it up in their 

 poultry-yards, where it becomes the protector of the fowl, 

 feeds along with them, follows them into the fields, and brings 



