Cannot use -lname in prereq list?

[Robert Mecklenburg]

I was attempting to use the -l link flag feature in a prerequisite and
discovered a surprising feature.  make will not match a -lxx
prerequisite with a libxx.a target.  The obvious makefile works:

  count_words: count_words.o libcounter.a
  libcounter.a: libcounter.a(lexer.o)

But when the libcounter.a prereq is changed to the -l form it fails:

  count_words: count_words.o -lcounter
  libcounter.a: libcounter.a(lexer.o)

When run yields:

  $ make
  gcc    -c -o count_words.o count_words.c
  make: *** No rule to make target `-lcounter', needed by `count_words'.  Stop.

  $ make --version
  GNU Make 3.80
  Copyright (C) 2002  Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Is this expected behavior?

Thanks,
Robert