BIRDS — PHALAEOPODIDAE — ^PHALAEOPUS WILSONII. 705 



Family PHALAEOPODIDAE. 



The general characters of the Phalaropodidae have already heen given on page 689. The 

 original and single genus Phalaropus has heen divided hy systematists into three, with the 

 following characters : 



A. Bill slender, attenuated, rounded, longer than the head. 



Steganopus, Vieillot.i — Marginal membrane of toes nearly even. 

 LoBiPES, Cuv.® — Membrane of the toes scolloped at the joints. 



B. Bill much depressed or flattened ; broader than high ; the apex lancet-shaped. 



Phalakopds, Briss.* — Membrane of toes scolloped at the joints. 



Steganopus, V i e i 1 1 o t . 

 PHALAKOPUS WILSONII, Sab. 



Wilson's Phalarope. 



Phalaropus wilsonii, Sab. Zool. App. to Franklin's first journey to Polar seas, 1823, 691 Sw. F. Bor. Am. II, 



1831, 405 ; pi. Ixix.— Acd. Om. Biog.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 299 ; pi. 341.— Gray's 

 Genera III, pi. clviii. 



Phalaropus {Holopodius) wilsonii, Bon. Syn. 1828, 342. — Ib. Am. Om. IV, 1832, 59 ; pi. xxiv and xxv. 



Phalaropus loiatus, Wilson, Am. Om. IX, 1825, 72. (Not Linnaeus.) 



Phalaropus frenalus, Vieill. Gal. II, 1825, 178. 



Phalaropus stenodactylus, Wagler, Isis, 1831, 523. 



Lohipes incanus, Jard. & Selbt, 111. Om. I, p. (No page nor date.) 



Phaloropusjimbriatus, Temm. PI. Col. V, p. (No page.) 



Pi GHBEs.— Wilson, Am. Orn. IX, pi. 73, fig. 3.— Sw. and Rich. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, pi. 69.— Vieill. Gal. II, pi. 271.— 

 Temm. PI. Col. 270.— Aud. B. of Am. pi. 254 ; oct. ed. V, pi. 341. 



Sp. Ch. — Larger than either of the preceding. Bill slender, flattened; wings long; tail short; legs moderate; tarsus 

 compressed ; plumage very compact. Adult. Head above and neck behind light ashy ; wide stripe behind the eye reddish 

 black ; neck before, and wide stripe running upwards on to the back, bright reddish brown, darker on the sides of the neck. 

 Back, wings, and tail, cinereous ; darkest on the wings, and mixed with reddish on the back ; rump and upper tail coverts 

 white. Entire under parts white, (except the neck before, which is pale reddish.) Bill and legs black. Young. Entire upper parts 

 cinereous, more or less mixed with dark brown ; under parts white, tinged with ashy, especially about the head and neck ; 

 '^ump white. Total length, about 9j inches ; wing,j5^ ; tail, 2^ ; bill, 1^ ; tarsus, 1^ jnch. 



Hab. — Entire temperate regions of North America ; New Mexico. (Dr. Henry.) 



The only species that appears to be more especially American, though wandering into 

 contiguous regions of the Old World. Very handsomie in mature plumage, and apparently 

 about equally distributed on the eastern and western coasts of the republic. 



^Steganopus, Vieill. Encycl. Meth. 1823. Type Phalaropus loiatus, Wils. Holopodius, Bon. Syn. 1828. 



'Lobipes, Cuv. R. Anim. 1817. Type Tringa hyperborea, L. 



'Phalaropus, Briss. Orn. 1760. Type Trivga falicaria, L. Crymophilus, Vieill. 1816. 



Angnst 4, 1858. 



89 b 



