PHALAROPES 



217 



The baby Phalaropes are covered with down at birth and withni a short time after leaving 

 the sheU are able to run about. 



The Northern and Wilson Phalaropes are known to be of great economic value, because 

 they destroy immense numbers of more or less harmful insects. The investigations of W. L. 

 McAtee, a Government biologist, showed that 53 per cent, of the food of twenty-eight Northern 

 Phalaropes consisted of mosquito larvas, the insects eaten including the famous mosquito 

 of the marshland of New Jersey. Wilson's Phalarope is known to feed upon bill-bugs, 

 which often do considerable damage to corn. Undoubtedly far more has been done by the 

 Phalaropes and other shore birds toward the extermination of mosquitoes in New Jersey 

 than has been accomplished by the State's expenditure of large sums of money. Mr. McAtee's 

 investigations showed that the Phalaropes also feed freely upon the crane flies (" leather- 

 jackets "), grasshoppers, the clover-root curculio, the wireworms and their adult forms, 

 the click beetles, the diving beetles which are a nuisance in fish hatcheries, and various 

 species of marine worms which prey upon oysters. 



RED PHALAROPE 

 Phalaropus fulicarius (Lhuucits) 



A. O- V. Xuniber jjj 



Other Names. — Whale-bird ; Red Coot-footed Tringa ; 

 Gray Phalarupe ; Flat-hilled Phalarope; Sea Suipe ; 

 Hank-bird; Brown Bank-bird; Gulf-bird; Sea Goose. 



General Description. — Length, 8 inches. In sum- 

 mer, upper parts mottled and striped with black and 

 I>ale brown, under parts entirely red ; in winter, gray 

 above and wliite below ; but always distinguishable 

 from other Phalaropes by the short, stout, tapering bill 

 (dagger-shaped). The front toes have lobed or scal- 

 loped webs. 



Color. — .Aiifi.T M.\LE IN Sum.mer: Forclicad. lores, 

 chin, loi^'iT side of head, throat, and entire under parts, 

 dull cinnanwii-bro'wn ; crown, nape, back of neck, and 

 upper parts, yellowish-brown ; crown streaked with 

 brownish-black; rest of feathers above, with broad dark 

 centers ; wing-coverts dusky, the greater coverts show- 

 ing white for most of their exposed portions; prima- 

 ries brownish-black ; a white ring around eye and a 

 whitish area above and behind eye; basal half of bill, 

 yellow, end dusky ; feet, yellowish ; iris, brown. Adult 

 Fem.vle in Summer: Forehead, crown, chin, nape (nar- 

 rowly), back of neck, wings, and middle tail-feathers, 

 sooty-brown ; lores, cheeks, sides of head, over eye and 

 larger part of greater wing-coverts, white; throat, neck 

 {broadly) , breast, and entire under parts, rich zeine-red : 

 back, shoulders, and long inner coverts ochery-white, 

 each feather with a broad center streak of brownish- 



-^(.e Color I'late 28 



black ; primaries and wing-coverts, dusky, the latter 

 edged with dull white; bill, yellowish, tipped with black; 

 feet, yellowish-brown ; iris, deep brown. Adults in 

 Wi.nter: Forehead, most of crown, sides of head. 

 throat, breast, and rest of under parts, pure ivliite; back 

 of head, a spot in front of, another below, and one 

 behind eye. a narrow streak down back of neck, upper 

 back and primaries, plain dusky-gray ; lesser and middle 

 wing-coverts, grayish-ash edged with white, center 

 diverts showing white space as in summer; rest of 

 upper parts, nearly uniform pate i/rayish-ash. some of 

 the feathers with darker centers; bill, mostly dusky; 

 feet, dull yellow ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : A hollow in ground ; sume- 

 times thinly lined with moss and dry grass. Eggs: 3 to 4. 

 dull greenish or yellowish-gray, spotted with various 

 shades of brown. 



Distribution. — Northern and southern hemispheres; 

 in North .\merica breeds from northern .-Maska. Mel- 

 ville Island, and northern Ellesmere Land south to 

 mouth of the Yukon, northern Mackenzie, central Kee- 

 watin, Hudson Strait, and southern Greenland ; winter 

 home unknown but probably on the oceans, at least as 

 far south as Falkland and Juan Fernandez islands ; 

 migrates along both coasts of United States ; casual in 

 migration in interior south to Colorado. Kansas. Illinois, 

 and Maryland. 



It is unfortim.itc th;it the Red rii.il.irnpc 

 breeds far in the north, for the chance of studying 

 its habits would lie unusually interestint;. .\fter 

 (lepositine: the esjijs the female loses her interest 

 in home-ties and the smaller, more protectively- 

 colored male meekly performs the household 

 duties of incubation and assumes all the care of 

 startinsj the young^sters toward maturity, while 

 his mate looks on or gads about the country 

 seckintr new feedinsj "rounds. 



When mij:^ratinj:; this is a bird of the open 

 waters, usually the sea, where it feeds and rests 

 in flocks, swimming as gracefully and safely as a 

 duck, and found along the shore onl\' when 

 driven in by storms." (Barrows.) 



Their food is worms, soft, small mai'ine ani- 

 inalcula, insects, and Crustacea, which live in their 

 marsbv habitat. In the North it feeds on the 

 ;mim;d-lifc which forms the food of the right 

 whale — hence its name of Wiiale-hird. 



