120 HYPERBOREAN PHALAROPE. 



Phalaropus hypeeboreus, Lath. liid. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 774 — Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. 



of Birds of the United States, p. 342 Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer- 



part ii. p. 406. 

 Hyperborean Phalarope, Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith. vol. iii — Nuttall, Manual, 



vol. ii. p. 239. 



Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCXV. Fig. 1. 



Bill long, very slender, flexible, nearly cylindrical, but towards the 

 point tapering. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, excepting 

 at the end, where it is a Uttle curved, the ridge broad and depressed, the 

 sides slightly sloping, the edges rounded, and inflected towards the nar- 

 row slightly curved, acute tip. Nasal groove long, linear ; nostrils basal, 

 linear, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, 

 the sides convex, the tip narrowed. 



Head small, with the fore part high and rounded. Eyes small. Neck 

 rather long and slender. Body slender. Wings long. Feet of moderate 

 length, slender ; tibia bare a considerable way above the joint ; tarsus 

 much compressed, narrowed before, very thin behind, covered anteriorly 

 with numerous scutella ; toes slender ; first extremely small, free, with a 

 shght membrane beneath ; second slightly shorter than fourth, third con- 

 siderably longer ; toes aU scutellate above, margined on both sides with 

 lobed and pectinated membranes, which are united at the base, so as to 

 render the foot half webbed ; the outer web much longer than the inner. 

 Claws very small, compressed, arched, that of the middle toe with a re- 

 curved sharp edge. 



Plumage soft and blended. Feathers of the back, and especially the 

 scapulars, elongated. Wings long and pointed ; primary quills tapering, 

 but rounded, the first longest, the second scarcely shorter, the rest rapidly 

 graduated ; secondary quills rather short and narrow, the inner tapering 

 and elongated so as nearly to equal the longest primaries when the wing 

 is closed. Tail rather short, much rounded, of twelve feathers. 



Bill black. Iris dark brown. Feet bluish-grey ; claws black. The 

 general colour of the upper parts is greyish-black, the head lighter and 

 more tinged with grey, the scapulars and some of the feathers of the back 

 edged with yellowish-red, of which colour also are the sides of the head 

 and neck ; throat and sides of the upper part of the neck white. Wing- 

 coverts and quills brownish -black, tinged with grey, the shafts of the 

 quills, the margins and tips of the secondaries, and a broad bar on the 



