72 



GRAY PHALAROPE. 

 PHALAROPUS LOBATA. 

 [Plate LXXIII.— Fig. 3.] 



Flialaropus lohata, Latham, Ind. Om. p. 776. Id. Ill, pt. 1, p. 272. — Tringa lohata, Turt. Syst. 



I, 406. — Muu^ER, JVo. 195. — Faun. Suec. 179. Faun. Groenl. JVo. 75.-~Le Plialarope, Bimss. Orn. 

 VI, p. 18, 1. — Le Phalarope afestons dmteUs, Buff. Ois. XV, p. 349. — Grei/ coot-footed Tnnga, 

 Edwards, pi. 308. — ^Bewick, II, p. 132. — Bartram, p. 294. — JBr. Zool. U, JVo. 218. .;4j'Ct. Zool. 



II, JVo. 412. 



OF this species only one specimen was ever seen by Mr. Wil- 

 son, and that was preserved in Trowbridge's Museum, at Albany, 

 in the state of Newyork. In referring to Mr. Wilson's journal I 

 found an account of the bird, there called a Tringa, written with 

 a lead pencil, but so scrawled and obscured that parts of the wri- 

 ting were not legible. I wrote to Mr. Trowbridge, soliciting a 

 particular description, but no answer has been returned. From 

 the drawing, which is imperfectly colored, and the description 

 which I have been enabled to decipher, I have concluded that this 

 species is the Gray Phalarope of Turton. It is worthy of remark 

 that the ornithologists of Europe have differed somewhat in their 

 account of this bird, as well as of that which follows; and we cannot 

 reconcile our descriptions with theirs. This is owing, we presume, 

 to the scarcity of the species, which has operated against their ob- 

 taining subjects recently killed, and has compelled them to have 

 recourse to old or imperfect specimens of the Museums. 



In the grand and wonderful chain of animated nature, the 

 Phalaropes constitute one of the links between the Waders and 

 the Web-footed tribes, having the form of the Sandpiper with the 

 habits of some of the Ducks : the scalloped membranes on their 

 toes enabling them to swim with facility. They do not appear to 



