Wilson's Phalarope 103 



Wilson's Phalarope. Steganopus tricolor. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 224 — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, p. 187 ; 

 Morrison. 89, p. 167 ; Cook© 97, pp. 19, 63, 199 ; Henderson 08, p. 107 ; 

 09, p. 227 ; Markman 07, p. 156 ; Warren 09, p. 14 ; 10, p. 29 ; Hersey 

 & RockweU 09, p. 114. 



Description. — Female in summer — Crown ashy -grey, becoming white 

 on a narrow stripe along the neck ; a black band from the eye along 

 the sides of the neck, becoming chestnut posteriorly and continued as 

 scattered patches on to the scapulars ; rest of the upper-parts slaty- 

 grey, dusky brown on the wings ; upper tail-coverts white ; below 

 white, the lower part of the neck and sides of the chest washed with 

 rufous ; iris dark brown, bill and legs black. Length 9-5 ; wing 5-1 ; 

 tail 2-0; ciihnen 1*3 ; tarsus 1-2. 



The male is rather smaller — wing 4-8 — and less brightly marked. 

 In winter there is no black or rusty ; the vipper -parts are piu-e ashy-grey 

 edged with whitish ; below, the upper tail-coverts, Hne over the eye and 

 forehead, whit 3 ; breast and sides washed with dusky. Young birds 

 are dusky brown above, the f-^athers edged with bufiy-rufous ; below 

 white, the breast and lower-neck washed with rufous. 



Distribution. — Breeding from the eastern slopes of the Rocky 

 Mountains in Alberta, south to Utah and Illinois ; south in %vinter as 

 far as Patagonia. 



Wilson's Phalarope is a fairly common migrant in Colorado, 

 while a certain proportion of the birds stop through the summer and 

 breed in the north-oast of the State along the lower Platte Valley, 

 and perhaps at San Luis Lakes, whence there is a young bird of the year, 

 taken July 10th, in the Aiken collection. Warren recently found it 

 common at Medano Ranch in June. In other parts of the State it is 

 chiefly known as a migrant. It reaches Loveland about the last week 

 of April. Breeding records are Fort Collins (Cooke), Loveland (Gale) ; 

 Barr Lake (Hersey & Rockwell) ; on migration, Middlo and South 

 Parks (Carter), Salida, May 4th (Frey), Glenwood Spring (Cooke), 

 and Coventry (Warren). 



Habits. — ^This Phalarope is almost always found near 

 water, where they either swim about in a very buoyant 

 manner or run in shallows and moist grass, picking up 

 small mollusca and insects which form their food. Gale 

 found three nests on Jvtne 19th, near Loveland ; they 

 consisted merely of a little depression in the ground 

 near a lake, lined with a few grasses and contained four 



