Biological Papers. 131 



THE RED PHALAROPE ( Crymophilus fulicarius Linn.) 

 A NEW BIRD FOR THE KANSAS LIST. 



By L. L. Dyche, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 



nnHERE are three species of small shore birds somewhat resem. 

 -*- bling snipes or sandpipers that belong to the family Phala- 

 ropodidae or phalaropes. The word phalaropus means coot-footed 

 {Phalaris, the coot, and pous, foot). The phalaropes were called 

 coot-footed from the scalloped membrane or flaps on the toes, which 

 resemble those on the coots and grebes. 



Wilson's phalarope {Steganopus tricolor) is confined during 

 the breeding season to the interior regions of temperate North 

 America. In migration it is said to go as far south as Brazil and 

 Patagonia. It is rather common during the migratory season in 

 Kansas. As a rule, I see a few flocks of these birds every year about 

 the first week in May in the neighborhood of Lakeview, five miles 

 northwest of Lawrence. In June, 1886, Col. N. S. Goss found 

 three pairs of these birds breeding in Meade county. It may be said 

 to breed from southern Kansas north as far as the Saskatchewan 

 regions. 



The Northern phalarope {Phalaropus lohatus) breeds in boreal 

 regions, but migrates as far south as the tropics in winter. Colonel 

 Goss reports, in his "Birds of Kansas," that he saw a flock of as 

 many as fifteen in Wallace county, Kansas, May 25, 1883. The 

 writer found the birds breeding on the coast of Greenland, and se- 

 cured specimens at Holsteinborg and Jacobshaven in June, 1895. 

 The nest was a little form in the wet moss near the edge of an ice 

 river. 



The Red phalarope {Crymophilus fulicarius) belongs to the 

 northern part of the northern hemisphere. It might be described 

 as circumpolar in its distribution. It breeds in the arctic regions 

 north of the sixty-eighth parallel. It migrates south in winter as 

 far as the middle states. I saw specimens at Jacobshaven and 

 Disco island, on the coast of Greenland, in 1895. 



A young female Red phalarope was killed at Lakeview, five 

 miles northwest of Lawrence, November 5, 1905, by E. E. Brown, 

 of the University. The bird was flushed from grass and weeds 

 that grew in shallow water. It was the only bird of the kind seen, 

 and, so far as I know, is the first one ever observed in the state of 

 Kansas. 



