2S8 
GRAY PHALAROPE. 
middle of its coverts black, their sides bright brownish yellow ; 
vent white, those feathers immediately next to the tail reddish cho- 
colate; legs black on the outside, yellowish within. 
Length nine inches, breadth fifteen inches and a half ; length 
of hind toe, independent of the claw, one eighth of an inch. Male ? 
The inner toe is connected to the middle one, by a membrane, 
as far as the first joint, the outer toe much further : hence the feet 
may be properly termed semipalmate ; webs and lobes finely pecti- 
nated. This conformation of the feet is pretty accurately exhibited 
in Edwardses plate. No. 508. 
The Gray Phalarope is a rare bird in Pennsylvania; and is 
not often met with in any part of the United States. The individ- 
ual from which our figure and description were taken, was shot in a 
pond in the vicinity of Philadelphia, in the latter part of May, 
1812, There were three in company. The person who shot it 
had never seen one of the species before, and was struck with their 
singular manners. He described them as swimming actively near 
the margin of the pond, dipping in their bill very often, as if feed- 
ing, and turning frequently. In consequence of our specimen be- 
ing in a state of putridity when received, it was preserved with 
considerable difficulty, and the sex could not be ascertained. 
In the spring of the year 1816, my friend, Mr. Le Sueur, shot 
in Boston Bay a young individual of this species: crown dark slate, 
tinged with yellowish brown ; front, throat, line over the eye, belly 
and vent, white ; shoulders, breast and sides, tawny or fawn colour ; 
back dark slate, paler near the rump, the feathers edged with bright 
yellow ochre ; wings pale cinereous, some of the lesser coverts edg- 
ed with white, the greater coverts largely so, forming the bar; pri- 
maries and tail black, the latter edged with yellowish brown, the 
shafts of the former white. Bill and feet as in the first described. 
On the 20th of March, 1818, I shot in the river St. John, in 
East Florida, an immature female specimen: irides dark brown; 
