RED rilALAKOPE. 125 



are not molested, "Mud-lieus" not being genenilly lookctl upon as 

 game. 



The Coots are strong of wing, good swinnners, and capable of 

 enduring both cold and fatigue. They are very abundant throughout 

 the North- West, their haunts being in the marshes, for which their 

 lobed feet are admirabh^ adapted. There they spend the sunnnei' 

 and find the enjoyment peculiar to their race. In the fall they 

 assemble in vast Hocks and generally all disapj^ear at once during the 

 night. In Alaska, only one wanderer of the species is reported. 

 There is a similar i-eport from (xreenland, which is its most northerly 

 record. 



Ordee LIMICOL^E. Shore 13ii;j)s. 

 Family PHALAROPODID^. 

 Gexus CRYMOPHILUS Vieillot. , 

 CRYMOPHILUS FULICARIU8 (Linn.). 



88. Red Phalarope. (222) 



Adult: — With the under parts, purplish chestnut of variable intensity, white 

 in the young; above, variegated witli blackish and tawny. Length, 7-S inches; 

 wing, 5; tail, 2|; bill, 1, yellowisli, black-tipped; tarsus, J, greenish. 



Hab. — Northern parts of the northern hemisphere, breeding in the Arctic 

 regions, and migrating south in winter; in the United States south to the 

 Middle State, Ohio, Illinois and Cape St. Lucas; chiefly maritime. 



Nest, a hollow in the ground lined with dry grass. 



Eggs, three or four, variable in color, usually l)i(nviiisli-<ili\e, spotted or 

 blotched with dark chocolate-brown. 



Vast numbers of Phalaropes breed in Spitzbei'gen, and on the 

 shores of the Polar Sea. At the approach of wintei' they retire to 

 the south, but in these migratory journeys they follow the hne of 

 the sea coast, so that the stragglers we see inland are most likely 

 bewildered by fog, or driven by storm away from their associates 

 and their regular course. 



Dr. Garnier saw a flock of six, one of which he secured, at 

 Mitchell's Bay, near 8t. Clair, in the fall of 1880; and on the 17th 

 of November, 1882, Mr. Brooks, of Milton, shot a single bird, which 

 he found swimming alone on Hamilton Ba}-, a little way out from 

 Dynes' place. On the 21st of October, 1886, ]Mr. White shot one 

 on the Rideau River, and on tlie 1st September, ISSS, he got a 

 .second specimen on the River Ottawa, which completes the record 

 for Ontario, so far as I know at present. 



