134 
PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS, 
with briglit yeliovr ochre ; wing's, pale ciiiorcous, soi®^ 
of the lesser coverts edged with nhite, the greiii^^ 
coverts largely so, Ibrmiiig the har ; primaries and ta'" 
black ; the latter edged with yellowish brown, the sbalk 
of the former white ; bill and feet, as in the tits’ 
described. 
On the 20th of IVIarch, 1818, I shot, in the river 
John, in East Florida, an immature female specinis^’ 
irides, dark brown ; around the base of the bill, a sli?®* 
marking' of dark slate ; front and crown, white, mottk® 
with pale ash ; at the interior part of each eye, a blat^ 
spot; beneath the eyes, dark slate, which extends 
the auriculars, the hindhead, and upper part of tti* 
neck ; upper parts, cinereous gray, with a few fid"* 
streaks of slati! ; throat, breast, whole lower parts, 
under tail-coverts, pure white; flanks, with a few tai"j. 
ferruginous stains ; wings, slate brown, the coverts «* 
the secondaries, and a few of the primary coverl”’ 
largely tipt with white, forming the bar as usual' 
tail, brown, edged with cinereous ; legs and feet, pid" 
plumbeous ; the webs, and part of the scalloped me"*' 
branes, yellowish ; bill and size as in the first speciitu’"' 
The tongue of this species is large, flesh}', and obtus"’ 
This bird has been described under a variety 
names. What could induce that respectable uaturalis*’ 
M. Temminck, to give it a new appellation, ue 
totally at a loss to conceive. Th.at his name {PhalarO’ 
pus platyrhinchus) is good, — that it is even better tba" 
all the rest, 'u e are willing to admit, — but that he b"** 
no right to give it a new name we shall boldly maintai"' 
not only on the score of expediency, but of justic"' 
It the rig-ht to change be once conceded, there is "" 
calculating the extent of the confusion in which d'" 
whole system of nomenclature will bo involved; d'" 
study of methodical natural history is sufficiently i"ti*r 
rious, and whatever rvill have a tendency to dimiui^Jj 
this labour ought to meet the cordial su]>port of 
those who are interested in the advancement of 1^" 
natural sciences. 
“ The study of natural history,” says the presc"* 
