134 PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS. 



with bright yellow ochre ; wings pale cinereous, some 



of the lesser < vith white, ti 



roverts largely so, forming the bar; primaries aiifl tail, 



; the latter relied with yellowish brown, the si 

 of the former white; bill and feet, as in the lirst 



.bed. 



Ou the 20th of March, 1818, I shot, in th< 

 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 interior part of each eye, a black 



rt ; beneath the eyes, dark slate, which extends over 

 auriculars, the hindhead, 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-coverts, 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 tipt with white, forming the bar as usual ; 

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

 plumbeous ; the webs, and part of the scalloped mem- 

 branes, yellowish ; bill and size as in the first specimen. 



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



This bird has been described under a variety of 

 names. What could induce that respectable naturalist, 

 M. Teraminck, to give it a new appellation, we are 

 totally at a loss to conceive. That his name (Phalaro- 

 jsus platyrhinchus) is good, that it is even better than 

 all the rest, we are willing to admit, but that he had 

 no right to give it a new name we shall boldly maintain, 

 not only on the score of expediency, but of justice. 

 If the right to change be once conceded, there is no 

 calculating the extent of the confusion in which the 

 whole system of nomenclature will be involved ; the 

 study of methodical natural history is sufficiently labo- 

 rious, and whatever will have a tendency to diminish 

 this labour ought to meet the cordial support of all 

 those who are interested in the advancement of the 

 natural sciences. 



" The study of natural history," says the present 



