GRAY PHALAROPE. 133 



inch long ; front and crown, black, barred transversely 

 with lines of white ; throat, sides of the neck, and lower 

 parts, \vhite, thickly and irregularly barred with curving 

 dashes of reddish chocolate; upper parts, of a deep 

 cinereous blue, streaked with brownish yellow and 

 black ; the back scapulars, broadly edged with brownish 

 yellow ; wings and rump, dark cinereous ; greater wing- 

 coverts, broadly tipt with white, forming a large band ; 

 primaries, nearly black, and crossed with white below 

 their coverts ; tail, plain olive, middle of its coverts 

 black, their sides bright brownish yellow ; vent, white, 

 those feathers immediately next to the tail, reddish 

 chocolate ; le^s, 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 farther : 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 description was taken, was 

 shot in a pond in the vicinity 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 described them as swimming actively 

 near the margin of the pond, dipping in their bill very 

 often, as if feeding, and turning frequently. In conse- 

 quence 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 colour; 

 back, dark slate, paler near the rump, the feathers edged 



