378 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



its nest of rushes in the form of a small boat, and 

 fastens it to some aquatic plant, so that it rises 

 and falls with the stem of the plant according to 

 the level of the water. The jacanas (parra, Lin.) 

 have longer nails than any other bird; that of 

 the great toe is considerably longer and sharper 

 than the rest : they inhabit the warmer regions 

 of America and India. Their wing at the first 

 joint is armed with a spur or lancet more or less 

 pointed, from which they have been vulgarly 

 called surgeons. This characteristic is still more 

 evident in the kamichi {palamedea cornuta). This 

 bird has a horny stem at the base of its bill, 

 which adheres only to the skin ; it lives in the 

 swamps of South America. The admirable pages 

 written by Buffon on this bird, have given it a 

 great celebrity. Next to it has been placed the 

 Chaia [parra chavaria), a very fine species which 

 had not yet been seen in collections, and was 

 lately brought from Paraguay by M. Auguste Saint- 

 Hilaire. 



The coots {fuliccL) Briss.) and the sultans [por- 

 phyria, Briss.), which we see at the top of the 

 forty-sixth case, are remarkable for the beauty 

 of their plumage, shaded with violet, blue, and 

 aquamarine. They stand on one leg and bring 

 their food to the bill as parrots do. One spe- 

 cies only is found in the south of Europe, and 



