794 



5 75 TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — L IMICOLM. 



Fig. 549. — Details of Phalaropes. (From The 

 Osprey, by R. C. McGregor.) 



1886-1895; but finally raised to a full genus: see A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1897, 

 p. 126. Amblyrhynchus Nuttall, 1834. Holopodius Bonaparte, 1828. 



S. wil'soni. (To A. Wilson. Figs. 550, 551.) 

 American Phalarope. Wilson's Phalarope. 

 Tricolor Phalarope (adult). Plain Phala- 

 rope (young). Adult 9 ) breeding dress : Bill and 

 feet black. Crown of head pale ash, passing into 

 white along a narrow stripe on nape. A narrovA', 

 distinct, pure white line over eye. Sides of neck 

 intense purplish- chestnut, or dark wine-red ; ante- 

 riorly deepeuing upon auriculars into velvety-black ; 

 posteriorly continued, somewhat duller in tint, as a 

 stripe along each side of back to tips of scapulars. 

 Other upper parts pearly-ash, blanching on rump 

 and upper tail-coverts. Wings pale grayish -brown ; 

 coverts slightly white-tipped; primaries dusky- 

 brown, their shafts brownish-white, except at tip. 

 Tail marbled with pearly-gray and white. All 

 under parts pure white, but fore part and sides of 

 breast washed with pale chestnut-brown, as if with 

 a weak solution of the rich color on the neck, and a faint tinge of the same along sides of body 

 to flanks. Bill and feet black. Iris brown. Length 8.50-9.50 or more; extent 15.50- 

 IG.OO; wing 5.00-5.30 ; tail 2.25 ; bill L33 ; tarsus 1.33; middle toe and claw 1.12. Adult 

 (J: Less richly colored, and smaller; length 8.25-8.75; extent 15.00; wing 4.75-5.00. 

 Adult (^ 9 J in winter : No rusty red or pure black. Above, pure ashy gray, each feather usually 

 skirted with whitish ; frequently some blackish, pale-edged feathers. Wing-quills fuscous, 

 usually with light edgings; tail as in summer; upper tail-coverts, line over eye, parts about 

 bill, and whole under parts, white; jugulum and sides usually shaded with ashy. Young, 

 before first moult: Bill blackish, about 1.10 long; legs dull yellow (tarsus 1.20; middle toe 

 and claw 1.05). Upper parts, including crown and upper surface of wings, broM-nish -black, each 

 feather edged with rusty-brown, very con- 

 spicuous on long inner secondaries, giving 

 a general aspect like that of a Sandpiper 

 of the genus Actodromas. Upper tail- 

 coverts pure white. Tail clear ash, edged 

 and much marbled with white, the ash 

 darker at its line of demarcation from the 

 white. Line over eye, and whole under 

 parts white, breast with a faint rusty 

 tinge, sides slightly marbled with gray. 

 Quills dusky, secondaries white-edged, and shafts of primaries whitish. This stage is of ex- 

 tremely brief duration, beginning to give way, almost as soon as the bird is full grown, to the 

 clear uniform ashy of upper parts of the fall and winter condition. The change, in some speci- 

 mens shot early in August, is already very evident, clear ashy feathers being mixed, on crown 

 and all upper parts, with such as just described. Size of the smallest specimen only 8.25 in 

 length by 14.50 in extent; wing 4.60. A plumage like this answers to the long-lost Plain 

 Phalarope of Pennant and Latham (glacialis Gm.). Chicks are covered with buff-colored 

 down, paler or whitish on the belly, striped on the hind head and rump with black; a black 

 spot on the flanks. In full plumage this is the handsomest and largest of the Phalaropes, and 

 one of the most elegant of waders. U. S. and British Prt)vinces, N. to the Saskatchewan and 



Head of Wilson's Phalarope, nat. size. (Ad. nat. 



