408 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



sea far from land, by the Northern Expeditions. Its eggs, generally four, are 

 oil-green, varied by crowded irregular spots of dark umber-brown, which become 

 confluent towards the obtuse end. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a specimen killed on the Columbia River. 



Colour. — Sides of the crown, circumference of the eyes, the ears, hind head, and a stripe 

 along the back of the neck, blackish-brown ; rest of the dorsal plumage ash-grey, with 

 blackish bases. Forehead, middle of the crown, superciliary bands, chin, sides and front of 

 the neck, sides of the rump, and the whole under plumage, pure white ; the dorsal plumage 

 and part of the lesser wing coverts are also slightly fringed with white ; and the ends of the 

 scapulars, the secondaries, and the lateral tail feathers, more broadly edged with the same. 

 Two or three of the posterior secondaries are almost entirely white, and the quill shafts are 

 brownish white. Bill brown. Feet oil-green *. 



Form. — Bill straight, depressed, much stouter and wider than the bills of the two pre- 

 ceding phaleropes; of equal breadth (1^- line) from base to the point, which is shortly accu- 

 minated, but not very acute ; tip of the upper mandible turning down. Nasal grooves reaching 

 to the narrowed tip. Head compressed as in the other phaleropes. Wings considerably 

 longer than the tail, which is rather long and graduated ; the outer feather three-quarters of 

 an inch longer than the middle ones. Structure of the feet, extent of the webs, &c, as in 

 Ph. hyperboreus ; the proportional length of the toes to the tarsus being, however, rather 

 greater. 









Dimensions. 













Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lid. 



Inch. 



Lin. 



Length, total 



• 7 







Length of bill above . 



. 



10 



Length of middle toe . 



si 



,, of tail 



2 



4| 



„ of bill to rictus . 







n 



„ of its nail . . 



H 



„ of wing 



. 4 



9 



„ of tarsus 



. 



10 



„ of hind toe and nail 



3 



— R. 



Edwards represent birds having very different sized bills ; and the known accuracy of that author in all cases where he 

 took the original sketches himself, lead us to conclude that the difference existed in the specimens from which he drew. 

 This opinion is strengthened by the examination of a Phalerope killed in the Orkneys, and now in the British Museum, 

 agreeing in size and colour with Edwards's bird, pi. 142, but larger in all its dimensions than the specimens of 

 the Flat-billed Phalerope in the grey winter dress, existing in the same Museum. We have not sufficient materials 

 for entering more fully into the subject ; but if further researches detect two distinct species, both, we have no 

 doubt, will be found to exist in the fur-countries. Edwards's bird, pi. 142, corresponds with summer specimens killed 

 by Sir Edward Parry on Melville Peninsula ; while the specimen from the Columbia, described in the text, seems 

 to agree in all respects with the winter dress of the Ph. platyrhynchus of Temminck. — R. 



* Specimens killed in summer on Melville Peninsula have the blackish-brown dorsal plumage broadly bordered with 

 brownish-orange : the whole under plumage is of this latter colour ; and the rump is white, striped with black. Super- 

 ciliary bands brownish. Wings nearly as described above. We regret that, these specimens being deposited in the 

 Edinburgh Museum, we have not been able to compare them with the Columbia one, so as to ascertain whether they 

 are of the same or of a different species. — R. 



