BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 227 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE {Lobipcs lobatus). 



Common or local names: Sea-goose; Mackerel Goose; Web-footed Peep; Bank-bird; 

 White Bank- bird; Sea-snipe; Whale-bird. 



Length. — 7 to about 8 inches; bill rather short (.80 to .88), very slender. 



Adult Female in Breeding Plumage. — Above dark slaty gray streaked with 

 yellowish brown on back; small crescents above and below eye white; 

 wing dusky, marked with white; throat white; neck rich rust red or 

 chestnut nearly all round; below white, marked on sides with slaty 

 gray. 



Adult Male in Breeding Plumage. — Similar but duller; more brown above; 

 less chestnut on neck, which is more or less streaked; forehead largely 

 white; crown marked with yellowish brown. 



Adult Female and Male in Winter. — Forehead white; crown and other upper 

 parts mainly gray, streaked with white; hind neck grajash; sides of 

 head, throat and under parts white; a slate patch, surrounding the eye 

 and its incomplete white ring, extends back over ear. 



Young. — Similar, but with more black and yellowish brown on back. 



Field Marks. — Difficult to distinguish from the Red Phalarope in winter 

 plumage, but its bill is much more slender and needle-like. 



Notes. — A low, chippering, clicking note (Chapman). A sharp metallic 

 tweet or tivicJc (Elliot). 



Season. — Irregularly common migrant off shore spring and fall; x\pril and 

 May and August to November. 



Range. — Northern and southern hemispheres. In North America breeds 

 from northern Alaska, Melville Island and central Greenland south to 

 Aleutian Islands (including Near Islands), valley of the Upper Yukon, 

 northern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, southern James Bay and north- 

 ern Ungava; winter home unknown, but probably the oceans south of 

 the equator; in migration occurs nearly throughout the United States 

 and in Mexico, Central America, Bermuda and Hawaii. 



