NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 20/ 



sold with other game in the market. Their visits in England 

 and Germany are equally rare as in the United States, and 

 individuals have been known sometimes to stray into Switzer- 

 land, having been shot on the Lake of Geneva. 



These interesting birds breed in the high Arctic regions and win- 

 ter south to the shores of the Middle States. They are usually 

 found on the sea or along the coast ; but a number have been seen 

 on the Great Lakes, and occasional examples have wandered to the 

 Ohio valley. 



Explorers have met with large numbers of these birds on the 

 borders of the Arctic Ocean, and it is probable that few of them 

 breed south of latitude 65°. They are exceedingly abundant in the 

 Bay of Fundy during the migrations, and Mr. Boardman thinks a 

 few pairs have nested in that vicinity. The nests were not dis- 

 covered, but young birds were seen. 



Among some peculiarities of the habits of this bird is the female's 

 preference for conducting the courtship, which she carries on in a 

 vigorous fashion of her own. After capturing her lord, — or, to 

 be more exact, subduing her slave, — the female takes her ease, 

 while the male attends to the domestic affairs and hatches the eggs. 

 The female is much the handsomer of the two, and is also larger. 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 



red-necked phalarope. sea goose. 

 Phalaropus lobatus. 



Char. Above, dark ash, paler on the head and rump, the back 

 striped with rufous or buff ; wings dusky with a white bar ; tail brownish 

 gray ; chin white ; breast and sides of neck chestnut ; beneath, white ; 

 bill black, slender, and tapering; legs greenish. Length about 7j^ inches. 



In winter the prevailing color is grayish, the forehead and crown 

 mostly white, and a line of dusky through the eyes. 



The male is smaller than the female and of duller plumage, the 

 rufous tint less conspicuous, and the colors less defined. 



Nest. In a swamp or bog on the margin of a pool, — a slight depression 

 in the peat scantily lined, and concealed amid a tuft of grass. 



Eggs. 3-4 ; pale olive bufT or sea-green, thickly covered by spots of 

 dark brown; average size about 1.20 X 0.80. 



The geographical range of the Hyperborean Phalarope, as 

 its name implies, is nearly, if not quite, similar with that of the 



