sea far from land, by the Northern Expeditions. Its eggs, generally four, are
oil-green, varied by crowded irregular spots of dark umber-brown, which become
confluent towards the obtuse end.
DESCRIPTION
Of a specimen killed on the Columbia River.
C olour.— Sides of the crown, circumference of the eyes, the ears, hind head, and a stripe
along the back of the neck, blackish-brown; rest of the dorsal yplumage ash-grey, with
blackish bases. Forehead, middle of the crown, superciliary bands, chin, sides and front of
the neck, sides of the rump, and the whole under plumage, pure white; the dorsal plumage
and part of the lesser wing coverts are also slightly fringed with white ; and the ends of the
scapulars, the secondaries, and the lateral tail feathers, more broadly edged with the same.
Two or three of the posterior secondaries are almost entirely white, and the quill shafts are
brownish white. 2Kft-bn>wn. Feet oil-green *.
F orm.— Bill straight, depressed, much stouter and wider than the bills of the two preceding
phaleropes; of equal breadth (1^- line) from base to the point, which is shortly accu-
minated, but not very acute; tip of the upper mandible turning down. Nasal grooves reaching
to the narrowed tip. Head compressed as in the other phaleropes. Wings considerably
longer than the tail, which is rather long and graduated; the outer feather three-quarters of
an inch longer than the middle ones. Structure of the feet, extent of the webs, &c., as in
Ph. hyperboreus; the proportional length of the toes to the tarsus being, however, rather
greater.
Dimensions.
Inch. Ian. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin.
Length, total . . - 7 0 Length of bill above . . 0 10 Length of middle toe . 0 9*
of tail . . 2 4J „ of bill to rictus . 0 11 ~ of its nail . . 0 1£
” of wing . . 4 9 „ of tarsus . . 0 10 „ of hind toe and nail 0 ^ 3
Edwards represent birds having very different sized bills ; and the known accuracy of that author in all cases where he
took the original sketches himself, lead us to conclude that the difference existed in the specimens from which he drew.
This opinion is strengthened by the examination of a Phalerope killed in the Orkneys, and now in the British Museum,
agreeing in size and colour with Edwards’s bird, pi. 142, but larger in all its dimensions than the specimens of
the Flat-billed Phalerope in the grey winter dress, existing in the same Museum. We have not sufficient materials
for entering more fully into the subject; but if further researches detect two distinct species, both, we have no
doubt, will be found to exist in the fur-countries. Edwards’s bird, pi. 142, corresponds with summer specimens killed
by Sir Edward Parry on Melville Peninsula; while the specimen from the Columbia, described in the text, seems
to agree in all respects with the winter dress of the Ph. platyrhynchus of Temminck.—R.
* Specimens killed in summer on Melville Peninsula have the blackish-brown dorsal plumage broadly bordered with
brownish-orange : the whole under plumage is of this latter colour; and the rump is white, striped with black. Superciliary
bands brownish. Wings nearly as described above. We regret that, these specimens being deposited in the
Edinburgh Museum, we have not been able to compare them with the Columbia one, so as to ascertain whether they
are of the same or of a different species.—R.
GRALLATORES. 409
Pennant describes under the name of Plain Phalarope *, a bird which was
taken to the north of Behring’s Straits, near Icy Cape, in the beginning of
August or end of July on Captain Cooke’s last voyage. This is considered by
recent authors to have been merely an example of Ph. hyperboreus in a state of
moult, in which the scolloped membranes of the toes had folded in, as they do
when dry. Setting aside the injustice of supposing that a naturalist of Pennant’s
habits of industry would expressly mention this as a specific mark of
distinction, without having examined it, the form of the bill, which he states to be
dilated at the end, presents another characteristic difference; and I think that the
Plain Phalarope ought not to be erased from our lists merely because a second
example has not hitherto been detected. I have, however, other grounds for
believing that a very handsome Phalarope, answering, in some particulars, to the
Plain Phalarope, and unknown to the naturalists of the present day, exists in
America. In September 1819, while at York Factory, Hudson’s Bay, a small bird
was brought to me, which had a depressed bill, rounded at the end, with the feet
more than half palmated, and the toes evenly bordered to the nails. Its plumage,
as far as my recollection goes, was mostly white. The natives said that it was
the only bird of the kind they had ever seen. From the pressure of other affairs,
I could neither prepare the skin of the specimen nor take a description, but I
put the bird into spirits, and sent it, along with a considerable number of other
specimens, to England by a ship which was then on the point of sailing. They
reached London, but I never could trace what became of any of them afterwards.
I think, from the rarity of this bird at Hudson’s Bay? that it most probably
frequents the western side of the Rocky Mountains, and hope that it may one
day be found in New Caledonia.—R.
* Phalaropus glacialis (Lath.) Plain Phalarope (Penn.)
Tringa glacialis. Gmel.
“ Ph. with a slender bill, dilated at the end. Crown dusky and dull yellow ; across each eye a black line; cheeks
and fore-part of the neck clay coloured; breast and belly white; back and tertials dusky, edged with dull yellow.
Coverts, primaries, and tail cinereous ; the last edged like the tertials. Legs yellowish. Toes bordered with a plain
or unscolloped membrane. Taken in the Frozen Sea, lat. 69£° N., long. 191£° E.”—Arct. Zoo/., ii.,p. 495.