690 



APPENDIX. 



[No. V. 



Gallinula Carolina. Soree Gallinule. 



The Soree Gallinule was received by Edwards from Hudson's Bay, and published by 

 him ; it is a well-known species, belonging to the American Continent only. In the 

 autumn migration they appear in the United States in great numbers, and from 

 the end of August to the end of September, afford easy amusement to the sports- 

 man, and a plentiful supply to the epicure : being very fat at that season, they are 

 particularly esteemed at table. A single specimen, apparently of a male, was 

 received. 



Fulica Americana. American Coot. 



Wilson, in his account of this bird, to which he annexed the names and synonymes 

 of the Common Coot, expressed a doubt of their identity ; he particularly mentions 

 that the colour of the callous membrane on the forehead of the American, is a 

 dark chestnut, whilst that of its European congener is white. This doubt has in- 

 duced a comparison of a British specimen with that sent home by Captain Franklin ; 

 and the conclusion is, that they are distinct though nearly resembling species. 

 They are of the same length though there is a general inferiority in the 

 size of the body as well as of the legs, head, and bill of the American ; the bill 

 is smaller, less thick and strong, and shorter by a quarter of an inch; the 

 callus, independent of the difference in colour in the American bird, ex- 

 tends only half an inch over the head, but in the European above an inch ; 

 the whole head is smaller; the plumage generally is similar in colour and 

 character; the outer margin of the first primary feathers of the wing is more con- 

 spicuously marked with white, and there are a few white feathers on the upper edge 

 of the wing ; the secondaries in both are tipped with white ; the principal difference 

 in the plumage is that in the American, the feathers at the vent are quite black, and 

 the under tail coverts white ; in the European Coot these correspond with the rest 

 of the plumage ; the legs are much more slender in the American bird ; the tarse of 

 the European measures near two inches and a half, that of the American not quite 

 two inches ; the toes are smaller in like proportion ; the middle toe, including, the 

 claw, of the European Coot, is three inches and three-quarters long ; of the American , 

 three inches and one quarter only. 



Phalaropus Hyperboreus. Red Phalarope. 



A specimen of this bird was brought home by Dr. Richardson, who also saw the 

 other known species,. Phalaropus Platyrhinchus, the Grey Phalarope, but did not 

 preserve a skin of it.. Both these species are inhabitants of, and breed in, the most 

 northern parts of the world ; and though they retire somewhat more to the south in 



