AMERICAN AYOSET. 217 



with tape- worms, and a number of smaller bot-like worms, some 

 of which wallowed in the cavity of the abdomen. 



In Mr. Peale's collection there is one of this same species, 

 said to have been brought from New Holland, differing little in 

 the markings of its plumage from our own. The red brown on 

 the neck does not descend so far, scarcely occupying any of the 

 breast; it is also somewhat less.* 



In every stuffed and dried specimen of these birds which I 

 have examined, the true form and flexure of the bill is altogether 

 deranged; being naturally of a very tender and delicate substance. 



Note. It is remarkable, that, in the Atlantic states, this 

 species invariably affects the neighbourhood of the ocean; we 

 never having known an instance of its having been seen in the 

 interior; and'yet captain Lewis met with this bird at the ponds, 

 in the vicinity of the Falls of the Missouri. That it was our 

 species, I had ocular evidence, in a skin brought by Lewis him- 

 self, and presented, among other specimens of Natural History, 

 to the Philadelphia Museum. See History of Lewis and 

 Clarke's Expedition) vol. u, p. 343. G. Ord. 



* This is a different species; it is the R. rubricollis of Temminck, Manuel 

 d'Ornithologie, p. 592. 



VOL. III. F f 



