NORTHERN PH4.LABOPE 21 



Plumages. — The general color pattern of the downy young 

 northern phalarope is similar to that of the red phalarope, but it 

 differs in some details and the colors are lighter and more yellowish 

 above. The colors vary from " ochraceous tawny," on the crown and 

 rump, to " antimony yellow," on the rest of the upper parts, and to 

 " Naples yellow " on the throat. The underparts are more exten- 

 sively grayish white than in the preceeding species and there is con- 

 siderable whitish between the black stripes on the back. There is 

 more black in the crown, which is nearly surrounded by it, and the 

 black terminates in a point on the nape. A very narrow black line 

 runs from the bill to the eye; and there is a black auricular patch. 

 The central black stripe on the back is broad, but the side stripes are 

 narrow, and there are extensive black patches on thighs and wings. 



I have seen no specimens showing the progress of development of 

 the juvenal plumage. In the full juvenal plumage in August, the 

 crown, occiput, and a space around the eye are black, the former 

 faintly mottled with buff; the remainder of the head, throat, and 

 under parts are white, more or less suffused with " light cinnamon 

 drab " and gray on the sides of the neck, breast, and flanks ; the 

 feathers of the back and scapulars are brownish black, broadly edged 

 with bright " ochraceous tawny," which gradually fades ; some of the 

 tertials are narrowly edged with the same color; the median and 

 inner greater wing coverts and the central tail feathers are narrowly 

 edged with pale buff or white. 



A partial molt of the body plumage in September and October 

 produces the first winter plumage, which is like that of the winter 

 adult, except that the juvenal wings are retained. The sexes are 

 alike in the juvenal and all winter plumages. A partial prenuptial 

 molt, from February to June, involving the body plumage, some of 

 the wing coverts and scapulars and the tail, produces the first nuptial 

 plumage, in which the sexes differ, and which is nearly, if not quite, 

 indistinguishable from that of the adult. 



Adults have a complete molt from July to October and an incom- 

 plete molt from February to June, similar to that of the young 

 bird, producing the distinct and well-known winter and nuptial 

 plumages. 



Food. — The northern phalarope obtains most of its food in the 

 water, on the ocean or in bays or in brackish pools or in fresh-water 

 ponds. Its characteristic and best-known method of feeding, on 

 which many observers have commented, is to swim rapidly about 

 in a small circle or to spin around in one spot, by alternate strokes 

 of its lobed feet; this quick whirling action is supposed to stir up 

 the minute forms of animal life on which it feeds and bring them 

 within reach of its needlelike bill, which it jabs into the water two 

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