458 WILSON’S PHALAROPE. 
and the inner almost divided; the bordermg membrane 
narrow and subentire; the hind toe long, and resting on 
the ground. The wings are long, even for the genus, and 
the tertials very long, reaching nearly to the tip of the 
primaries when the wings are closed. ‘The tail is moderate, 
being neither so long as in Crymophilus, nor so short as that 
of Lobipes. The general form is slender, and, together with 
the bill and other traits, gives this bird a strong resemblance 
to the Totant—a bare analogy, however, which we should not 
with Cuvier mistake for affinity. 
The American or Wilson’s phalarope has been so well 
described from the recent specimen, by Mr Ord, as not to 
be susceptible of improvement, and the following description 
is merely intended to elucidate our figure, which represents 
of the natural size a beautiful female in the perfect plumage 
of spring. ‘This individual was nine and a half inches long, 
and sixteen in extent of wings. The form of the bill we have 
described above: it is black, and more than an inch and a 
quarter long, though only a line in thickness: the irides are 
dark brown. The upper part of the head is of a bluish delicate 
pale ash colour; the hind head and that part of the neck ad- 
joining it are whitish ; a white stripe passes over the eye, and 
beneath it is a spot of the same colour: a large curving band 
of black includes the eye and spreads out towards the nucha, 
descending a good space down the neck, and gradually passes 
into a reddish brown, which becomes the colour of the sides of 
the neck ; this tint deepens into bright chestnut on the back 
part of the neck, and descends on each side, thus mingling 
with the plumage of the back and scapulars, which are dark 
ash, each feather slightly tipt with whitish: the upper tail-’ 
coverts are ash colour. The throat and sides of the head to 
the black mark, and all beneath, including the lower tail- 
coverts, are pure white, somewhat tinged with rufous on the 
lower part of the neck beneath. The wings are five inches 
long, and in colour dark ash ; larger coverts and secondaries 
very slightly edged with white; under coverts white, most 
