WILSON'S PHALAROPE. 355 



than a quarter ; the toes webbed at base, the outer web reaching to the 

 first joint of the outer toes, the inner being hardly visible. 



Wilson's description of the summer plumage being sufficient, we omit 

 it here, though admitting of much more detail : in few words it may be 

 stated that however great the apparent difference, it may be reduced to 

 this : 1. All those parts that .are plain cinereous in winter take on a 

 mottled appearance, being strongly tinged with reddish, and varied with 

 black and yellowish. 2. The anterior parts that are white, such as the 

 superciliar line, and breast, become reddish. The strongly character- 

 istic marks of the other parts remain unchanged. 



The young birds of the year have the plumage above generally black, 

 the back of the head dusky, and the feathers broadly margined with 

 bright rufous, the superciliar line, and the inferior parts are of a dingy 

 white, inclining to rufous ; this color predominates on the breast, where 

 the feathers, as well as on the flanks and the superciliar line, have 

 numerous dusky dots : the middle tail-feathers are terminated by 

 reddish. 



Notwithstanding the statements of Wilson, we do not perceive any 

 difference in plumage in the female, which is merely of a larger size. 

 As the species breeds in high northern latitudes, visiting the temperate 

 regions of America in spring and autumn, on its passage to and from 

 its winter quarters, it is the more extraordinary that it should not 

 equally extend theise regular migrations to Europe. 



PHALAROPUS WILSONII. 



WILSON'S PHALAROPE.* 



[Plate XXIV., Fig. 1, Adult. Plate XXV., Pig. 1, Tonng.] 



Phalaropus Wilsonii, Sabine, Zool. App. FranJclin'sExp.p. 691. Nob. Obs. Wils. 

 Sp. 233. Id. Add. Orn. U. 8. in Ann. Lye. N. T. 11., p. 159. Id. S^ppl. Syn. in 

 Zool. Journ. Land. Id. Cal. and Syn. Birds TJ. S. Sp. 279. Id. Speech. Comp. — 

 Phalaropus froenatus, A''ieill. Gal. Ois. 11., p. 178, PI. 271. — Phalaropus Jim- 

 briatus, Temm. PI. Col. 370. — Lobipes fimbriattis, Selbt and Jardine, Orn. III. 

 1, Syn. Sp. 2, Adult. — Lobipes incanus, Selby and Jard. Orn. 111. 1, Syn. Sp. 3, 

 tab. 16, Young. — Phalarope liser^, Temm. loc. cit. — Phalarope hridi, Vieill. loc. 

 eit. — American Phalarope, Sabine, loc. cit. Lath. Oen. Hist, x., p. 4, Sp. 2. 



This beautiful, and as regards system, so remarkable bird, was first 



* See Wilson's American Ornithology, Gray Phalarope, Phalaropus lobaius, vol. 

 III., p. 9, PI. 73, fig. 2, for a very bad figure and imperfect account; and a much 

 better one illustrating the same figure in the second edition of the same volume, 

 called by Mr. Ord, Supplement to the American Ornithology of Wilson, under the 

 name of Brown Phalarope, Phalaropus lobatus, p. 12. 



