108 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
some black, and some variable. The faithful Jacana is a 
most useful bird at Carthagena in South America. The 
natives, who keep poultry in great numbers, have one of 
these tame, who attends the flock as a shepherd, to defend 
them from birds of prey. Though not larger than a dung- 
hill cock, the Jacana is able, by means of the spurs on his 
wings, to keep off birds as large as the carrion vulture, and 
even that bird himself; and it never deserts its charge, but 
assiduously takes care to bring the whole flock home safe 
at night. It feeds on vegetables, and cannot run but by 
the help of its wings. 
The Sheathbill is an inhabitant of New Zealand, and 
is remarkable for a horny sheath which covers the upper 
part of its bill, which is also moveable, and may be raised 
upwards or laid flat on the bill. We know of but one 
species, which is as large as a pigeon, and as white as snow. 
They feed on shell-fish and carrion. 
Water-fowl with pinnated {or finned) Feet. 
Of this description of birds we know only three kinds. 
Their general characteristic is that of having their toes 
furnished with jagged or scolloped membranes, which pro- 
bably may assist them in swimming. They appear indeed 
in every respect an intermediate race between the tall and 
slender birds of the crane form, and the common web- 
footed water-fowl. 
The Phalarope is in every respect, excepting the above 
characteristic, formed like the sandpiper. It is the size of 
the purro, and weighs one ounce. The grey Phalarope hits 
the upper parts of the plumage ash coloured, varied a little 
with dusky and white, and the breast and belly white. The 
red Phalarope only differs from it in having the upper parts 
of the plumage of a deep lead colour, striped with dusky 
yellow ; and the under parts of a dusky red. These are 
sometimes found in England, and there are about three 
foreign species. 
The Coot is a well-known bird. It weighs from twenty- 
four to twenty-eight ounces. The bald part of the head, 
which in the water-hen is red, in the coot is white. The upper 
parts of its plumage are black, the breast and belly white, 
as the coot is a larger bird than the water-hen, which it 
much resembles, it is always seen in larger streams, and 
