CHAPTER XXL 



Genus PHALAROPUS. 



Diagnosis. Totanin.u digitis lobatis. 



Generic 

 characters. 



The Phalaropes differ from all the other Charadriidas in having lateral lobes to the toes, 

 like the Grebes, which they also resemble in their laterally compressed tarsi ; they also 

 resemble the Grebes, the Auks, the Rails, and the Avocets in their fluffy compact plumage, 

 but there is no reason to suppose that any of these characters denote affinity. In the 

 position of their nostrils they are Scolopacine, not Charadriine ; the toes are united by a 

 web at the base, the tarsus is scutellated both in front and at the back, and the frontal 

 feathers extend beyond the gape ; so that they may be regarded as nearest related to the 

 species comprised in the genus Totanus. 



Determina- 

 tion of the 

 type. 



Synonymy of the Genus Phalakopus. 



It is incredible that so well known and so clearly defined a genus, containing only 

 three species, should have any synonymy; but such has been the perversity of ornithologists 

 that the literature has been encumbered with no fewer than five generic names to puzzle 

 and mislead the student. 



Type. 



Pbalaropus, Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 12 (1760) P. fulicarius. 



Crymophilus, Vieillot, Anal. Now. Orn. Elem. p. 62 (1816) P. fulicarius. 



Lobipes, Cuvier, Regne An. p. 495 (1817) P. hyperboreus. 



Steganopus, Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxii. p. 136 (1819) P. wilsoni. 



Hulopodius, Bonup. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 420 (1856) P. wilsoni. 



Linneus placed the Phalaropes in his genus Tringa because they have four toes; but 

 Brisson established a new genus for their reception on account of the peculiar webbing of 



