GRALLATORES. PHALAROPUS. 161 



THE genus Phalaropus of BRISSON contained not only tfye 

 species to which it is now restricted, but also the Cootfoots, 

 or birds belonging to the genus Lobipes of CUVIER, repre- 

 sented by the Phalaropus Hyperboreus of authors, and which 

 that eminent naturalist judged it expedient to separate from 

 the present group, in consequence of the distinct character it 

 displayed in the form of the bill. By LATHAM, TEMMINCK, 

 and other systematists, these birds were placed in an order 

 entitled Pinnatipedes, an arrangement completely artificial, 

 and which embraced groups widely different, and so far re- 

 moved from each other in point of affinity, as to possess, in 

 fact, nothing in common except feet imperfectly webbed or 

 lobated. According to the natural arrangement, or that 

 grounded upon affinity, they are now more appropriately 

 classed with the Scolopacida, and the groups which stand at 

 the extremity of that family, or which, departing from the 

 central (or more typical) genera, in regard to their habits 

 (that are more aquatic), and in the lobated form of their 

 feet (that are not unlike those of the Coots), lead the way 

 and serve as a link to connect it with the succeeding family 

 of the Rallidf-e. In the Phalaropes, the formation of the bill 

 is nearly the same as that of the Knot, but it is more de- 

 pressed throughout its length, and the tip comes to a sharper 

 and more determinate point. The general contour of the 

 body is also similar to that of the Tringas. The extensive 

 development of the membrane connecting and bordering the 

 margins of the toes, as well as the thick and closely set plum- 

 age of the under parts of the body, indicate more aquatic 

 habits, and a greater power of being supported on the water ; 

 and we accordingly find, that the Phalaropes are more fre- 

 quently seen upon the surface of the ocean, where they float 

 at ease even amidst the roughest waves, than on the land, 

 where their motions are more confined, and display less of 

 the activity that distinguishes the Tringas and other birds 

 that frequent the shores. Their moult is double, and the 

 changes they undergo are not unlike those of the Tringas. 



VOL. II. L 



