JACANA, the Brazilian name, according to Marcgrave, of certain birds, since found to have some allies in other parts of the world, which are also very generally called by the same appellation, They have been most frequently classed with the Water-hens or Rails (Rallidx), but are now recognized by many systematists as forming a separate Family, Parridae f whose leaning seems to be rather towards the Lirnicolx, as apparently first suggested by Blyth, a view which is supported by the osteological observations of Professor Parker (Proc. Zool. Society, 1863, p. 513), though denied by Professor A. Milne-Edwards (Ois. foss. de la Prance, ii. p. 110). The most obvious characteristic of this group of birds is the extraordinary length of their toes and claws (the latter being turned upwards), whereby they are enabled to walk with ease over water-lilies and other aquatic plants growing in rivers and lakes. It is also remarkable for the carpal spurs with which its members are armed. The Family has been divided into four genera,—of which Parra, as now restricted, inhabits South America; Metopidius, hardly differing from it, has representatives in Africa, Madagascar, and the Indian Region; Hydralector, also very nearly allied to Parra, belongs to the northern portion of the Australian Region; and Hydrophasianus, the most extravagant form of the whole, is found in India, Ceylon, and China—the draughtsmen of the country last named making it a favourite subject of their pictures, in which its flowing tail and the very peculiar filamentous appendages to the tip of its first and fourth primaries are generally faithfully represented. In habits the Jacanas have much in common with the Waterhens, but that fact is insufficient to warrant the affinity asserted to exist between the two ...