THE RED PHALAROPE. 



No. 254. 



RED PHALAROPE. 



A. O. U. No. 222. Crymophilus fulicarius (Linn.). 



Description. — Adult female in summer: Entire under parts, except lining 

 of wing, purplish chestnut; axillars and lining of wing white; region about base 

 of bill, forehead, and crown blackish plumbeous ; sides of head white nearly meet- 

 ing on nape ; upper parts, centrally, black with buffy and ochraceous edgings, 

 mostly in lengthwise patterns ; wings plumbeous-gray ; quills fuscous with white 

 shafts; the greater coverts tipped with white, the inner primaries white-edged 

 basally, and the secondaries extensively white at base ; upper tail-coverts black, 

 with ochraceous tips centrally, plain cinnamon laterally. Adult male : Very simi- 

 lar, but smaller ; white on sides of head reduced ; crown and hind-neck streaked 

 with ochraceous. .-Units in winter: Quite different. Upper parts ashy, nearly 

 uniform; wings darker ash or blackish, but with white bar as before; head and 

 neck all around, and entire under parts pure white, or ashy-washed on sides only ; 

 a dusky space about eye. and another on hind head. Immature : Above dull black, 

 with ochraceous edgings ; wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts plumbeous. 

 — the first bordered by buffy and the last by ochraceous; remainder of head and 

 neck and lower parts white, tinged with brownish buff on the throat and chest 

 i Ridgw. ). Length about 8.00 1 203.2) ; wing 5.35 (,135.9) I tail 2A 5 (54-6) ; bill 

 .86 1 21. S > ; tarsus .80 (20.3) ; middle toe and claw .93 (23.6). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size; lobate feet (in common with other Pha- 

 laropes ) ; broadened sulcate bill destinctive. 



.Nesting. — Does not breed in Ohio. "Nest, a slight hollow in the ground, 

 lined with a few bits of moss and grasses" ( Chapman). Eggs, 3 or 4, pale drab 

 or olivaceous, spotted and blotched with dark browns. Av. size. 1.25 x .88 (31.8 

 x 22.4). 



General Range. — Northern parts of northern hemisphere, breeding from 

 Maine northward and in Arctic regions, and migrating south in winter; in the 

 United States south to the Middle States, Ohio Valley and Cape St. Lucas ; chiefly 

 maritime. 



Range in Ohio. — Rare migrant. No Ohio specimens known to exist in col- 

 lections. 



THE occurrence of this species i^ recorded by Dr. Wheaton upon the sole 

 authority of Mr. R. K. Winslow of Cleveland, by whom he was informed 

 that two or three specimens had been taken on Lake Erie. The statement is 

 a little vague, but the casual appearance of this bird has also been reported 

 from Kentucky (Audubon), Indiana (Butler), Michigan 'Cook), and On- 

 tario 1 Mcllwraith) : so that Mr. Winslow's identification may very well be 

 a correct one. 



The Red Phalarope is more exclusively maritime than the other members 

 of this group, being found in the breeding season only along the coasts of 



