_Description._--Head and neck purplish black; back and wings bright chestnut; primaries and secondaries pale greenish yellow tipped with brown; flanks dark chestnut; breast dark black; abdomen purplish; tail chestnut tipped with black; wattles on head and base of bill red, rest of bill yellow; feet olive: whole length 10·5 inches, wing 5·8, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar. _Hab._ South America from Venezuela down to Buenos Ayres. The beautiful Jacana or Jassana, sometimes called _Alas-amarillas_ in the vernacular, differs very widely from all the other members of the Limicoline Order in its appearance, which is most singular--the toes being enormously long, the head ornamented with red lobes, and the wings armed with spurs, these and the beak being of a bright yellow. The colouring of the plumage heightens the novelty of its appearance; the head, neck, and underparts being black; the shoulders, back, and wing-coverts chestnut; while the quills, which have a bright satiny lustre, are apple-green in colour, and in some lights appear golden yellow. In the southern part of the Plata district the Jacana is migratory, arriving from the north in Buenos Ayres early in October, either singly or in small parties. In their migration they appear to follow the course of the Plata; and, though some individuals are found breeding inland, they are for the most part confined to the littoral marshes. The Jacanas journey by very easy stages, frequently alighting to rest by the way; for they are so incapable of sustained flight that boys on the pampas occasionally take them, pursuing them on horseback till the birds drop down exhausted. I believe the migratory Rails travel in the same way--a matter not easily determined, as they migrate by night; but they are feeble-winged creatures, and when driven to rise flutter away as if wounded. I have observed the Jacanas migrating by day, but would not for this reason affirm that they do not journey by night, since the Bartram's Sandpiper and other species journey both day and night.