10 GRAY PHALAROPE. 



yellow ; -vent white, those feathers immediately next to the tail reddish 

 chocolate; legs black on the outside, yellowish within. 



Length nine inches, breadth fifteen inches and a half; length of hind 

 toe, independent of the claw, one-eighth of an inch. Male? 



The inner toe is connected to the middle one, by a membrane, as far 

 as the first joint, the outer toe much further ; hence the feet may be 

 properly termed semipalmate ; webs and lobes finely pectinated. This 

 conformation of the feet is pretty accurately exhibited in Edwards's 

 plate, No. 308. 



The Gray Phalarope is a rare bird in Pennsylvania ; and is not often 

 met with in any part of the United States. The individual from which 

 our figure and description were taken, was shot in a pond, in the vi- 

 cinity of Philadelphia, in the latter part of May, 1812. There were 

 three in company. The person who shot it had never seen one of the 

 species before, and was struck with their singular manners. He de- 

 scribed them as swimming actively near the margin of the pond, dipping 

 in their bill very often, as if feeding, and turning frequently. In con- 

 sequence of our specimen being in a state of putridity when received, 

 it was preserved with considerable difficulty, and the sex could not be 

 ascertained. 



In the spring of the year 1816, my friend, Mr. Le Sueur, shot in 

 Boston Bay a young individual of this species : crown dark slate, tinged 

 with yellowish brown ; front, throat, line over the eye, belly and vent, 

 white ; shoulders, breast and sides, tawny or fawn color ; back dark 

 slate, paler near the rump, the feathers edged with bright yellow ochre ; 

 wings pale cinereous, some of the lesser coverts edged with Avhite, the 

 greater coverts largely so, forming the bar ; primaries and tail black, 

 the latter edged with yellowish brown, the shafts of the former white. 

 Bill and feet as in the first described. 



On the 20th of March, 1818, I shot in the river St. John, in East 

 Florida, an immature female specimen : irides dark brown ; around the 

 base of the bill a slight marking of dark slate ; front and crown white, 

 mottled with pale ash ; at the anterior part of each eye a black spot ; 

 beneath the eyes dark slate, which extends over the auriculars, the 

 hii.d-heud, and upper part of the neck ; upper parts cinereous gray, 

 with a few faint streaks of slate ; throat, breast, whole lower parts, 

 and under tail-covcrts, pure white ; flanks with a few faint ferruginous 

 stains: wings slate brown, the coverts of the secondaries, and a few of 

 the primary coverts, largely tipped w^ith white, forming the bar as usual ; 

 tail brown, edged with cinereous ; legs and feet pale plumbeous, the 

 webs, and part of the scalloped membranes, yellowish. Bill and size as 

 in the first specimen. 



The tongue of this species is large, fleshy aud obtuse. 



A reference to tlic head of this article will show the variety of names 



