PHALARIS P 



counties of England ; and one mature male, which 

 was found in Wiltshire as early as the month of 

 August, retained so much of the summer plumage, as 

 to show that the rich-coloured birds found far to the 

 north in summer are identically the same as the grey 

 ones which straggle southward in the winter. 



At all times of the year this phalarope is a hand- 

 some bird, and in summer its plumage is very beauti- 

 ful ; but the colours are so mottled and broken, that 

 it is scarcely possible to give a detailed account of 

 them. The whole of the under part is then rich red- 

 dish brown, passing into a mixture of black, brown, 

 and several other tints, which it is not easy to name, 

 on the back, the wings, and their coverts. There 

 is, however, a white bar across the greater coverts, 

 the same as in the other phalaropo, which undergoes 

 no annual change. In winter the colour changes 

 greatly, and in all probability the change is greater 

 in proportion as the place iu which the bird winters 

 is colder. As it occasionally appears with us, the 

 brown on the under part has t'tded to white, marked 

 with some greyish ash on the sides of the lower neck. 

 The colours on the back and wings fade almost to 

 one entire tint of grey, notwithstanding their variety 

 in summer. The most singular change in the plum- 

 age, however, takes place in the head. In summer 

 the chin, the checks near to the eye, the top of 

 the head, and the hindhead, are deep black; and a 

 small space round the eye, on the cheek below 

 the eye, and backwards to the nape, is white, mottled 

 with a few feathers of brownish-grey, and passing 

 gradually into the dark colour of the neck. In 

 winter, again, those colours of the head exactly 

 change places, by all that is black in summer turning 

 white, and all that is white turning black. There is a 

 seasonal change even in the bill and feet. In summer 

 the bill is yellow, and the feet are blackish brown ; 

 but in winter the bill becomes dusky almost to black- 

 ness, and the feet lead-colour. In consequence of 

 these changes, both of the feathers and of the naked 

 parts, it would not be easy fur any one to believe that 

 the bird, in its two plumages, was still the same 

 species, \fere it not that it has been seen in all its 

 changes. 



The young birds, in their first plumage, have the 

 back and scapulars grey ; the greater coverts dusky, 

 margined with buff; the white bar on the wing more 

 conspicuous, and a slight tinge of brown on the 

 throat. Their bills and feet are also much paler in 

 the tint than those of the mature birds in summer. 

 The young might thus readily pass for a third species 

 by those who attend only to colours ; and, as they 

 generally move southward earlier than the old birds, 

 they are not only first seen, but most plentiful in the 

 southern parts of the range. It should seem that this 

 bird is chiefly an American, though it does not appear 

 to come abundantly into the south, or even the central 

 parts, of the United States. Wilson saw it, and left 

 a few notes respecting it, but no finished description ; 

 and the American ornithologists who have followed 

 him have not exactly come up to his standard in 

 their attempts to furnish one. Indeed, it is only in 

 the extreme north, among that dismal melange of 

 rocks, ice, and water, with which the explorers of 

 those dreary regions had to contend, that this phala- 

 rope seems quite at home in the summer. The 

 situation of its nest, and its economy and food in the 

 breeding season, are quite unknown. 



PHALARIS (Linnaeus). This genus is the ca- 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



H A S C O L O M Y S. 433 



nary-grass of authors, and is one of the cultivated 

 Graminetc. The grain is chiefly used for feeding 

 ponlfv and singing-birds. 



PIIARNACEUM (Willdenow). A genus of 

 annuals and undershrubs, having pent and rous flowers, 

 and belonging to Caryophyllecc. They are all easily- 

 cultivated. 



PHASCOLOMYS wombat. A genus of mar- 

 supial mammalia, of which there is only one known 

 species, and this species is so different from all the 

 other mammalia, whether marsupial or placenta], that 

 it may almost be considered as forming a distinct order. 

 It is one of the most quiet and peaceable of animals, 

 as perfectly passive as a living creature can be, and it 

 lives upon vegetables, and does injury to no living 

 thing ; but at the same time it does not, in the struc- 

 ture of its teeth, fall into any of the order into which 

 the vegetable-feeding mammalia are divided, nor, in 

 fact, resemble them. Almost the only character too 

 in which it strictly agrees with the other marsupial 

 animals, is simply being marsupial. If we were to 

 liken it to any of the placental animals, the rodentise 

 are the ones which it resembles the most in the teeth, 

 and it is very unlike them in form and in habits. It 

 seems that the teeth are not constant in number, but, 

 generally speaking, there are two incisors in each 

 jaw, placed very remote from the grinders, and some- 

 times with a tooth in the interval, somewhat resem- 

 bling a canine tooth, but as often without this. Even 

 the incisive teeth do not appear to be constant in 

 their number, but to vary from two to six, to be thick 

 and strong when few in number, and small and weak 

 when many. The small ones are most frequently 

 accompanied by canines, two in each jaw. These 

 canines are crooked, but have flat oval crowns, and 

 nothing of a carnivorous character about them. 



The full-grown wombat is nearly the size of a 

 badger. Its body is thick and heavy ; its head large 

 and flat; its eyes and ears small, the former mode- 

 rately opened, so as to indicate an animal that lives 

 partly above ground and partly below ; the legs are 

 short, and the fore legs are supported by clavicles, 

 so that they have a cross motion, by means of which 

 the animal can burrow readily in the ground ; there 

 are five toes upon each of the feet ; but the inner 

 toes on the hind feet are very small and without 

 claws ; the claws on the fore feet are very stout, and 

 fitted for digging ; and the three middle toes are sup- 

 ported for some length by a connecting membrane ; 

 the feet are plantigrade, or have the entire sole ap- 

 plied to the ground in walking ; the covering of the 

 body is rougrf* and thick, and of a greyish-brown 

 colour, paler about the ears and neck than on the 

 rest of the body , the tail is reddish-brown, but it is 

 so exceedingly short, as to be almost entirely hidden by 

 the fur of the surrounding parts, and the ears are 

 nearly concealed in the same manner. 



The whole of the senses appear to be duller in this 

 animal than in almost any other. It is perfectly 

 passive even to danger ; for any one who meets with 

 a wombat may lift it and carry it off, not oidy with- 

 out its offering any resistance, but absolutely without 

 its making any complaint. In consequence of the 

 extreme mildness of its disposition, it can readily be 

 made to reside in houses, though it appears to be 

 susceptible of hardly any education. It spends the 

 greater part of the day in sleeping, during which it 

 rolls itself up in the form of a ball. In the wild state 

 it lives entirely upon vegetables ; but when kept in 

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