2l8 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE 

 Lobipes lobatus (Liniuctis) 



A. O. U. Number 22J See Color Plate 29 



Other Names. — Sea Goose ; Mackerel Goose ; Web- 

 footed Peep; Bank-bird; White Bank-bird; Sea Snipe; 

 Whale-bird ; Hyperborean Phalarope ; Red-necked 

 Phalarope. 



General Description. — Length, 7 inches. Color 

 above, ashy-gray; hill very slender, cylindrical, and 

 sharp (needle-like) ; front toes with lobed or scalloped 

 webs. 



Color. — .Adult M.m.e in Summer: Forehead, throat, 

 breast, and lou'cr f'lirts. pure white: crown, sides of 

 head, back of neck, upper back, ashy-gray; forehead 

 and front part of crown, mottled with ashy ; lores, 

 dusky; n broad area of rufous extending from nape 

 doii'nzi'ard across upper breast, interrupted on upper 

 breast ti'ith dusky streaks; sides of breast much mottled 

 with ashy-gray and white; flanks and sides marked with 

 arrowhead-shaped dusky s[iots ; shoulders, rufous- 

 brown, each feather with blackish center and white 

 tipped ; wing-coverts and primaries, dusky, the greater 

 coverts with rear portion white ; a white semi-circle 

 above and another below eye; bill, black; iris, brown; 

 feet, dusky gray. Adult Female in Summer: Head 



from chin, back of neck, shoulders, and back, plain 

 grayish-ash; throat and lower side of head, white, bor- 

 dered behind and below with a large patch of rich 

 tawny, this color including upper breast; under parts, 

 white, broken on side of breast, sides, and flanks, with 

 ashy-gray; a broad J '-shaped stripe of yelloivish-brozi'n 

 on- back; tivo narrozv ones of same color on shoulders : 

 wing-coverts and primaries, dusky, the greater coverts 

 broadly white on ends, forming a conspicuous bar, a 

 white semi-circle above and another below eye ; bill, 

 black ; legs and feet, bluish-gray ; soles of feet, greenish- 

 yellow ; iris, deep brown. Adults in Winter : Fore- 

 head, broad line oi<er eye running along side of head and 

 meeting zchite of chin, breast, and lozver parts, pure 

 ZK'hite: a broad streak behind eye. crown, back of neck, 

 and upper parts, plain light ash, varied with white edges 

 of feathers, these lighter edges forming a V-shaped 

 mark on back and more extensive on shoulders, becom- 

 ing narrower on longer wing-coverts behind; sides of 

 breast, mottled with ash; sides and flanks, with a faint 

 tinge of gray, thinly spotted with darker; wing as in 

 summer; a wash of pale rufous on sides of neck; a 



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Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE (female, I nat. size) 

 She leaves all the family duties to the less handsome, more modest male 



