800 
GRAY PHALAROPE. 
white; throat, sides of the neck, and lower parts, white, thick- 
ly and irregularly harred with curving dashes of reddish choco- 
late; upper parts of a deep cinereous blue, streaked with brown- 
ish yellow and black; the black scapulars broadly edged with 
brownish yellow; wings and rump dark cinereous; greater wing- 
coverts broadly tipped with white, forming a large band; pri- 
maries nearly black, and crossed with white below their coverts; 
tail plain olive, middle of its coverts black, their sides bright 
brownish yellow; vent white, those feathers immediately next 
to the tail reddish chocolate; legs black on the outside, yellow- 
ish 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 pectinated. This conformation of the feet is pretty accu- 
rately exhibited in Edwards’s plate. No. 308. 
The Gray Phalarope is a rare bird in Pennsylvania; and is 
not often met with in any part of the United States. The indi- 
vidual 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 feeding, and turning frequently. In 
consequence of our specimen being 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. 
