134 
PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS. 
with bright yellow ochre ; wing's, pale cinereous, some 
of the lesser coverts edged with white, the greater 
coverts largely so, forming the bar ; primaries 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 ; around the base of the bill, a slight 
marking of dark slate ; front and crown, white, mottled 
with pale ash ; at the interior part of each eye, a black 
spot ; beneath the eyes, dark slate, which extends over 
the auriculars, the hindhead, and upper part of the 
neck ; upper parts, cinereous gray, with a few faint 
streaks of slate ; throat, breast, whole lower parts, and 
under tail-coverts, pure white ; flanks, with a few faint 
ferruginous stains ; wings, slate brown, the coverts of j 
the secondaries, and a few of the primary coverts, 
largely tipt with white, forming the bar as usual ; 
tail, brown, edged with cinereous ; legs and feet, pale 
plumbeous ; the webs, and part of the scalloped mem- 
branes, yellowish ; bill and size as in the first specimen. 
The tongue of this species is large, fleshy, and obtuse. 
This bird has been described under a variety of 
names. What could induce that respectable naturalist, 
M. Temminck, to give it a new appellation, we are 
totally at a loss to conceive. That his name ( Plialaro - 
pus platyrhinchus') is good, — that it is even better than ! 
all the rest, we are willing to admit, — but that he had 
no right to give it a new name we shall boldly maintain, 
not only on the score of expediency, but of justice. ! 
If the right to change be once conceded, there is no 
calculating the extent of the confusion in which the 
whole system of nomenclature will be involved ; the 
Study of methodical natural history is sufficiently labo- 
rious, and whatever will have a tendency to diminish 
this labour ought to meet the cordial support of all 
those who are interested in the advancement of the j 
natural sciences. 
“ The study of natural history,” says the present 
