614 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — L IMICOLJE. 



some lateral ones white. Wings blackish, the ends of the greater coverts broadly white, form- 

 ing a conspicuous cross-bar, continued on some of the inner secondaries. Bill and feel black. 

 Length 7.00 ; extent 13.50 ; wing 4.25-4.50 ; tail 2.00 ; bill, tarsus, middle toe and claw, each, 

 under 1.00. Varies much in plumage with age and season, but easily recognized by the small 

 size and generic characters. Chicks in down rich buff above, silvery-gray below ; crown mixed 

 black and yellow; a long black stripe down back, another over each hip, one across the rump, 

 and a shoulder-spot. N. hemisphere at large, breeding in Arctic regions, migrating into the 

 tropics sometimes ; generally distributed, but especially maritime. Eggs 3-4, June, average 

 1.20 X 0.80 (from 1.30 X 0.75 to 1.10 X 0.82), very variable in size, shape, and color; greenish- 

 olive, brownish-olive to various drab and huffy shades of ground color, usually very boldly 

 spotted and splashed sometimes in finer pattera, with bistrous, chocolate, and lighter brown. 



228. PHALiA'ROPUS. (Gr. (fioKapoirovs, phalaropons, coot-foot.) Coot-foot Phalaropes. 

 Bill scarcely longer than head or tarsus ; very stout for this family ; much depressed, so broad 

 as to be almost spatulate, the tip only moderately acute, lancet-shaped. Upper mandible with 

 the ridge broad and flattened, its apex arched and decurved, its lateral grooves wide and shallow. 

 Interramal space broad and very long, extending nearly to the end of the biU. Nostrils sub- 

 basal, at some distance from the I'oot of the bill. Wings long and pointed. Tail long, 

 rounded, the central rectrices projecting, rather acuminate. Legs and feet much as in Lohipes, 

 but the semipalmation of less extent. 



604. P. f ulica'rius. (Lat. fulicariiis, coot-like ; fulica, a coot ; fuligo, soot.) Coot-footed 

 TrinCtA. Red Phalarope. Gray Phalarope. Adult ^ '^ ,m summer : Under parts, with 

 sides of neck, and upper tail-coverts, dark purplish or wine-red, with a glaucous bloom. Top 

 of head and around bill, sooty. Sides of head white, this color meeting on nape. Rump 

 white. Back black, all the feathers edged with tawny or rusty-brown. Quills brownish-black, 

 with white shafts and much white at bases of webs ; the coverts dark ash, the ends and inner 

 webs of the greater row white ; some of the secondaries entu-ely white. Bill yellowish, with 

 dusky tip; feet yellowish. Length 7.50; extent 14.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.50; bill 0.90; 

 tarsus 0.75 ; middle toe and claw rather more. Adult ^ 9 , in winter : Head all around, 

 and entire under parts, white, — with a dusky circumocular area and nuchal crescent, and a 

 wash of ashy along sides of body. Above, nearly uniform ash. Wings ashy-blackish, the 

 white cross-bar very conspicuous ; biU mostly dark ; feet obscured. A species of circumpolar 

 distribution in summer, wandering far south in winter, chiefly coastwise. Nesting and eggs not 

 distinguishable from those of the last ; eggs averaging larger, — 1.15 - 1.30 X 0.90-0.95. 



42. Family SCOLOPACID^ : Snipe, etc 



Snipe and their allies 

 form a well-defined and 

 perfectly natural assem- 

 blage, one of the two 

 largest limicoline families, 

 agreeing Avith Plover in 

 most essential respects, 

 yet well distinguished from 

 the pluvialiue birds. In 

 general, the bill is much 

 elongated, frequently sev- 

 eral times longer than the 

 head, and in those cases 

 in which it is as short as 



Fio. 430. — English Snipe, (Frc 



Fig. 431. — Wilson's Snipe. (Fron- 

 Dixon.) in plover, it does not show Tenney, after Wilson.) 



