80 BIKPS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



JS^est. Unrecorded in British Gniana. 

 Eggs. Undescribed from Britisli Guiana. 



Range in British Gniana. Upper Takutu Mounhiius, Abary 

 River, Hoobaboo {McConnell collection). 

 Kxtralimital Range. Brazil. 

 Habits. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



Family HELIORNITHID^. 



The members of this family, which are peculiar by their long 

 and stiffened tails, elongated wings with short tertials, and Rail- 

 like bills, are distributed as follows : — In Asia (Burma) one genus 

 and one species, in Africa one genus and three species, and in 

 Central and South America one genus and one species. 



Genus HELIORNIS Bonn. 



IlcUovnis Bonnatcrrc, Tabl. Meth. i. Intvod. p. 64, 1790. Type 

 H.fulicn (Bodd.). 



Tliis genus has no very near ally in South America, but in 

 the classification it is placed immediately after the Coots (Ralli- 

 formes) and before the Grebes (Fodicipiformes) on account 

 of the toes being lobed laterally. It is easily distinguished from 

 either of these orders, however, by its peculiar bill and the long 

 rounded tail. 



49. Heliornis fulica. 

 Coot-like Heliornis. 



IleUornisfnUca (Bodd.). Tabl. PI. Enl. p. o4, 17S3 (Cayenne) ; Salvin, 

 Ibis, 1886, p. 177 (Merume Mts., River Yuruani) ; Quelch, Tiiiieliri 

 (2) ii. p. 373, 1888 (Abary Kiver) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 

 xxiii. p. 233, 1894; Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 27, 

 no. 267, 1912. 



Podoa siirinamensis Cab. in Schomb. Reis. Guiana, p. 76o, 1848. 



Heliornis surinamensis Brown, Canoe and Camp Life, p. 47, 1876 

 (Cartoonie). 



" Little Ducklar " or " Frog-footed Duck,'' " Vicis.si Duck " 

 {Quelcli). 



Adult male. Entire back, wings, lower flanks, and under tail- 

 coverts bronze-brown ; crown of head, hind-neck, and a line on 

 the side of the neck black ^ a bright rufous patch on the sides of 

 the face ; throat white, as also a space in front of the eye^ a line 

 behind the eye, and another on the side of the neck ; breast and 

 abdomen also white with a wash of buff more intensely on the 



