GRALLATORES. 407 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a, female, killed at Great Bear Lake, June 1, 1826. 



Colour. — Sides and front of the neck bright brownish-orange; medial stripe on the latter, 

 the sides of the breast, top and sides of the head, the nape, and fore part of the back, greyish- 

 black; rest of the upper plumage blackish-brown, the scapulars and interscapulars striped 

 exteriorly with yellowish-brown ; the lateral tail feathers clove- brown ; their shafts and edges, 

 several bars on their lateral coverts, a band on the ends of the greater wing coverts and edges 

 of the tertiaries, the shafts of the greater quills, fringe of the intermediate coverts, the chin, 

 throat, and rest of the under plumage, pure white, blotched with black beneath the wings. 

 Bill black. Legs blackish-green. — A specimen, killed at Hudson's Bay, on the 28th August, 

 and therefore after its summer moult, has the throat and lores brownish-white ; the breast 

 blackish, mottled with white ; the anterior dorsal plumage, scapulars, and tertiaries, broadly 

 bordered with wax-yellow ; the tail tinged with rust colour, and the belly clouded with a pale 

 brown tint. 



Form. — Bill shorter than that of PA. Wilsonii, and rather more awl-shaped, but otherwise 

 very similar. Its ridge is somewhat less depressed, and the nasal grooves consequently 

 wider. Inside of the upper mandible smooth. Tail, of twelve feathers moderately graduated, 

 as long as the wings. Tarsus shorter than the bill. Webs including two joints of the outer 

 toe and one of the inner one ; the remaining phalanges of the fore toes broadly bordered with 

 deeply scalloped membranes. Hind toe free, its inner edge attenuated. Nails very small. 



Dimensions 

 Of the female. 



Inch. Lin, Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total . . .76 Length of bill to rictus . 1 Length of middle nail . Of 



,, of tail ..23 „ of naked thigh .06 ,, of hind toe . 2 



„ of wing . .43 „ of tarsus . . 10J ,, of outer web . .0 5 



„ of bill above . . 11^ ,, of middle toe . .0 9^ Extent of wing „ 12 C 



— R. 



[173.] 3. Phalaropus fulicarius. (Bonap.) Flat-billed Phalerope, 



Genus, Phalaropus, Briss. 



The Red Coot-footed Tringa {Tringa rufa). Edw., pi. 142*. 



Red Phalerope {Tringa fulicaria). Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 494, No. 413. 



Red Phalerope {Phalaropus hyperboreus). Wils., ix, p. 75, pi. 73, f. 4. 



Phalaropus platyrhynchus. Sab. Greenl. Birds, p. 536 ; Suppl. Parrifs First Voy., p. cci. 



Richards. Append. Parry's Second Voy., p. 335. 

 Phalaropus fulicarius. Bonap. New York Lye, ii., p. 159 ; Syn., No. 277- 



This neat little bird abounds in high northern latitudes, breeds on the North 

 Georgian Islands and Melville Peninsula, and was often seen swimming on the 



* Unless the variations in the length of the bill and in the total size of this bird are greater than usual even amosg 

 the Grallatores, two species of Flat-billed Phaleropes have been confounded together by authors. Plates 142 and 308 of 



