WILSON’S PHALAROPE. 
65 
r 
They can only be compared with the allied genera Himantopus and 
JRecurvirostra, and we see how materially they differ from them. 
They may be said to connect the Scolopacidx with the Laridx, ( 
forming a beautiful link between the order of Waders and that 
of the Web-footed birds. 
Our subgenus Holopodius, which resembles Lobipes in the bill, 
while Crymophilus resembles it in the feet, is furnished with a long, 
very slender, smooth, flexible, and cylindrical bill, of equal 
breadth throughout, subulate to the tip, with the point narrow, 
sharp, and slightly curved: the nostrils are quite basal, and linear- 
elongated : the tongue is filiform and acute. The tarsi are elon¬ 
gated, and much compressed, in which it comes nearer to the 
Anseres, and compensates for the other traits which remove it 
farther from them than the other Phalaropes. Thus do we find 
ourselves baffled in all attempts at a regularly symmetrical or 
mathematical arrangement. Nature acknowledges no artificial 
nor contracted limits. The toes are long, and by no means semi- 
palmated, the outer being connected to the middle only as far as 
the first joint, and the inner almost divided; the bordering mem¬ 
brane narrow and subentire; the hind toe long, and resting on 
the ground. The wings are long, even for the genus, and the 
tertials very long, reaching nearly to the tip of the primaries 
when the wings are closed. The tail is moderate, being neither 
so long as in Crymophilus , nor so short as that of Lobipes. The 
general form is slender, and together with the bill and other 
traits, gives this bird a strong resemblance to the Totani, a bare 
analogy, however, which we should not with Cuvier mistake for 
affinity. 
The American or Wilson’s Phalarope has been so well described 
from the recent specimen, by Mr. Ord, as not to be susceptible 
of improvement, and the following description is merely intended 
VOL. iv. —R 
