28 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



these regions are : Michigan, Lenawee County, September 14, 1899, 

 near Forestville, October 4, 1911, and October 28, 1911; Indiana, 

 Fort Wayne, June 7, 1889; Illinois, Calumet Lake, September 27, 

 1903; Iowa, Burlington, August 10, 1894, and Omaha, May 6, 1896; 

 Missouri, near St. Louis, October 9, 1878; Kansas, May 25, 1883; 

 New Mexico, Las Vegas, August 31, 1903; and Arizona, Walker 

 Lake, August 19, 1889. 



Egg dates. — Alaska: 83 records, May 20 to July 23; 42 records, 

 June 12 to 25. Arctic Canada: 58 records, June 16 to July 10; 29 

 records, June 23 to July 1. Iceland: 43 records, May 25 to July 12; 

 22 records, June 8 to 26. British Isles : 18 records, May 16 to July 

 12; 9 records, June 7 to 24. 



STEGANOPUS TRICOLOR Vieillot 

 WILSON PHALAROPE 



HABITS 



I shall never forget my first impressions of a prairie slough with 

 its teeming bird life, an oasis of moisture in a sea of dry, grassy 

 plain, where all the various water birds of the region were thickly 

 congregated. Perhaps 10 or a dozen species of ducks could be seen 

 in the open water, gulls and terns were drifting about overhead, 

 grebes and countless coots were scurrying in and out among the 

 reeds, and noisy killdeers added their plaintive cries to the ceaseless 

 din from swarms of blackbirds in the marsh. In marked contrast 

 to the clownish coots and the noisy killdeers and blackbirds, the 

 almost silent, gentle, dainty, little phalaropes stand out in memory 

 as charming features in the picture, so characteristic of western bird 

 life. The virgin prairies are nearly gone, but there are still left a 

 few oases of moisture in our encroaching civilization, where these 

 graceful birds may continue to delight the eye with their gentle 

 manners. 



Unlike the other two world-wide species, the Wilson phalarope is 

 a strictly American bird, making its summer home in the interior 

 of North America and wintering in southern South America. It 

 differs from the other two also in being less pelagic and more terres- 

 trial; it is seldom, if ever, seen on the oceans, being a bird of the 

 inland marshes; and it prefers to spend more time walking about on 

 land, or wading in shallow water, than swimming on the water. 

 Hence its bill, neck and legs are longer, and its feet less lobed. It 

 is a more normal shore bird. 



Spring. — The spring migration seems to be directly northward 

 from the west coasts of South America, through Central America, 

 to the Mississippi Valley on one hand and to California on the 

 other. Although it usually arrives in Manitoba during the first 



