WILSON’S PIIALAROPE. 
801 
Ohio flew in the manner of the Common Snipe, proceeding at first in an 
undulating or zigzag line, but more steadily after reaching a certain eleva- 
tion, when they came pretty close together, wheeled a few times, and 
alighted again near the same shallow pools. 
Dr. Richardson, who found this species breeding on the Saskatchewan, 
says “ it lays two or three eggs among the grass on the margins of small 
lakes : they are very obtuse at one end, taper much at the other, and have a 
colour intermediate between yellowish-grey and cream-yellow, interspersed 
with small roundish spots and a few larger blotches of umber-brown, more 
crowded at the obtuse end. The eggs measure sixteen lines and a half in 
length and eleven across.” 
I observed scarcely any difference in the colouring of the sexes, the female 
being merely larger than the male. 
Grey Phalarope, Phalaropus lobatus , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ix. p. 72. 
Phalaropus Wilsonii, Bouap. Syn., p. 342. 
Wilson’s Phalarope, Phalaropus Wilsonii , Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. iv. p. 59. 
Phalaropus Wilsonii, Wilson’s Phalarope, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. 
ii. p. 405. 
American Phalarope, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 245. 
Wilson’s Phalarope, Phalaropus Wilsonii, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 400. 
Adult, 10, 17 h. 
Procured in Kentucky, New Jersey, and Boston. Breeds abundantly on 
the Rocky Mountains. Saskatchewan river. Winters in Mexico. 
Adult Male. 
Bill long; very slender, flexible, flattened towards the end. Upper man- 
dible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge flattened, the sides at the base 
sloping, but towards the end nearly horizontal, the edges obtuse, the tip 
narrow. Nasal groove linear, long ; nostrils basal, linear, “pervious. Lower 
mandible with the angle very long and extremely narrow, the sides slightly 
convex, the tip narrowed. 
Head small, with the fore part high and rounded ; eyes of moderate size, 
neck ratlfer long and slender. Body slender. Feet rather long, slender ; 
tibia bare a considerable way above the joint ; tarsus extremely compressed, 
narrowed before, very thin behind, covered anteriorly with numerous 
scutella, posteriorly with two series of scutella meeting with a sharp edge ; 
toes slender, first very small, free, with a slight membrane beneath, second 
slightly shorter than fourth, third considerably longer ; all scutellate above, 
margined on both sides with narrow, slightly lobed, crenate membranes, 
which are united at the base so as to form short webs, of which the outer is 
longer. Claws very small, compressed, arched, that of the middle toe with 
the inner edge sharp. 
Vol. V. 
43 
