132 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Rallus elegans Aud. 



M. C. Z. No. 67829. Wilson's account of the Clapper Rail, Rallus 

 crepitansGmel., relates to that species, but his figure, 7, 1813, pi. 62, 

 fig. 2, is a King Rail, R. elegans Aud., as Audubon pointed out. There 

 are two large Rails in the Boston Museum collection, both of them 

 R. elegans, although one is labelled Rallus crepitans, a name probably 

 copied from the original Peale Museum label. This is very probably 

 the individual that served as a model for Wilson, although its attitude 

 is vitalized in the drawing. 



Steganopus tricolor Vieill. 



M. C. Z. No. 67830. Wilson saw but one specimen of this Phala- 

 rope, in Trowbridge's IMuseum, Albany, N. Y. He left after his 

 death an imperfect sketch and description of this specimen which 

 were published by Ord in the ninth volume of Wilson's Ornithology, 

 p. 72-74, pi. 73, fig. 3, 1814, as " Phalaropus lobata." In the second 

 edition of the ninth volume, p. 234-235, 1825, Ord added a fuller de- 

 scription of a new specimen in Peale's Museum, shot by T. R. Peale 

 near Philadelphia, May 7, 1818. In 1833 Bonaparte described the 

 same specimen again and gave a coloured figure of it, in the fourth 

 volume of his continuation of Wilson's Ornithology, p. 66, pi. 24, fig. 1, 

 under the name Phalaropus wilsoni Sabine. I am convinced that the 

 specimen in the Boston Museum collection is the one described by Ord 

 and Bonaparte. Its bill unluckily has been badly shattered. 



ReCURVIROSTRA AMERICANA Gmel. 



M. C. Z. Nos. 67831, 67832. Two specimens, probably collected 

 by Wilson on their former breeding-ground in Cape May Co., N. J. 

 (Amer. Ornithology, 7, 1813, p. 126). One of these (No. 67831) 

 seems to be the specimen figured by Wilson, pi. 63, fig. 2. 



HiMANTOPUS MEXICANUS (Mull.). 



Recurvirostra himantopus Wils., 7, 1813, p. 48, pi. 58, fig. 2. Nee Charadrius 

 himantopus Linn. 



