PHALAROPODID.E — THE PHALAROPES. 



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Had. Islands throughout the Pticitic Ocenn. Occtisionivl or accidental on the coast of Alaska. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Tibial and femoral iilumes with their shafts lengthened into long, hair-like 

 loi-itles ; crown dark sooty brown, divided longitudinally by a nie<lial stripe of buff; a stripe of 

 (lii-iky aggregated streaks from bill to and behind the eye ; rest of the head, neck, and lower parts, 

 buff, the cheeks, neck, and juguluni streaked with brown, the sides irregularly barred with the 

 same ; axillars reddish bulf, or dilute cinnamon, widely barred with dark brown. Upper parts 

 ■iiioty brown, coarsely spottetl with buff. Rump nearly uniform dark brown ; upper tail-coverts 

 1111(1 tail ochraceous-buff", the latter regularly barred with brown (the brown bars narrower than the 

 iiilt-rspaces), the coverts sometimes nearly immaculate, but usually irregularly marked with brown. 

 " Legs and fei't dull livid blue ; iris hazel ; basal half of lower mandible dull dark flesh-color, lost 

 nf bill horn-black" (Nelson, MS.). 



Total length, about 17.2.') ; extent, 32.50 ; i wing, about 10.60 ; tail, 4.60 ; culnien, 3.65 ; tar- 

 sus, 2.20 ; middle toe, 1.50. 



The single Alaskan sjiecimen before us agrees with examples from the Sandwich Islands and 

 Paumotu Group, but, being in more perfect feather, is somewhat deeper colored. 



This species Avas first described by Mr. Peale in 1848 from specimens obtained by 

 the Wilkes Exploring Expedition at Vincennes Island, one of the Paumotu Group, in 

 latitude 16° H., longitude, 144° W. A single male specimen was taken by Mr. 

 Bis(dioff at Fort Kenai, Alaska, May 18, 1869, and is in the Collection of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. The occurrence of a bird, the habitat of which is presumed to 

 lie in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean, and distant some five thousand miles from 

 Alaska, and in a tropical region — a locality so remote and so unlike its natural 

 haunt — can only be regarded as being something jnirely accidental. The bird is 

 said to bear a general resemblance to the N. Hudsonicus, but to be conspicuously dis- 

 tinguishable by the rigid bristles that form the termination of the feathers of the 

 upper portion of the tibiae. Except a slightly stronger ferruginous tint in the males, 

 the two sexes were not distinguishable. They were abundant on an island of the 

 Paumotu Group named Vincennes by the Expedition, were found in the month of 

 September, and had become exceedingly fat by feeding on the berries of a species of 

 Canthium, then very abundant. The birds were rather tame, and when flushed uttered 

 a clear plaintive whistle. Beyond this we have no history of their habits, their 

 manner of breeding not being known. 



Family PHALAROPODID^. — The Phalakopes. 



Ohar, Small birds of Sandpiper-like appearance, but with very full, compact 

 jilumage like that of the Coots, Gulls, and Petrels ; the tarsus greatly compressed, 

 and the toes partly webbed, as w^ell as fringed by a lateral, sometimes scalloped, 



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The Phalaropes are small northern birds combining the habits, as well as to a cer- 

 tain extent the appearance, of the Waders and Swimmers. The three known species 

 belong to as many different genera, whose characters are as follows : — 



A. Bill flattened, broad, the nostrils sub-basal. 



1. PhalaropuB. Web between outer and middle toes extending to beyond second joint of 

 the latter ; lateral membrane of all the toes broad and deeply scalloped. 



1 Fresh measurements of No. 58471, f ad. Fort Kenai, Alaska, May, 18, 1869 (F. Bischoff). 



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