WILSON^S PHALAROPE. 



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jERHAPS the most interest- 

 ing, as it is certainly the 

 most uncommon, charac- 

 teristic of this species of 

 birds is that the male re- 

 lieves his mate from all domestic duties 

 except the laying of the eggs. He 

 usually chooses a thin tuft of grass on 

 a level spot, but often in an open 

 place concealed by only a few strag- 

 gling blades. He scratches a shallow 

 depression in the soft earth, lines it 

 with a thin layer of fragments of old 

 grass blades, upon which the eggs, 

 three or four, are laid about the last of 

 May or first of June. Owing to the 

 low situation in which the nest is 

 placed, the first set of eggs are often 

 destroyed by a heavy fall of rain caus- 

 ing the water to rise so as to submerge 

 the nest. The instinct of self preser- 

 vation in these birds, as in many others, 

 seems lacking in this respect. A 

 second set,. numbering two or three, is 

 often deposited in a depression 

 scratched in the ground, as at first, but 

 with no sign of any lining. 



Wilson's Phalarope is exclusively 

 an American bird, more common in 



the interior than along the sea coast. 

 The older ornithologists knew little of 

 it. It is now known to breed in 

 northern Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota, the Dakotas, Utah, and 

 Oregon. It is recorded as a summer 

 resident in northern Indiana and in 

 western Kansas. Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 states that it is the most common 

 species in northern Illinois, frequent- 

 ing grassy marshes and low prairies, 

 and is not exceeded in numbers even by 

 the ever-present Spotted Sandpiper. 

 While it was one of our most common 

 birds in the Calumet region it is now 

 becoming scarce. 



The adult female of this beautiful 

 species is by far the handsomest of the 

 small waders. The breeding plumage 

 is much brighter and richer than that 

 of the male, another peculiar charac- 

 teristic, and the male alone possesses 

 the naked abdomen. The female 

 always remains near the nest while he 

 is sitting, and shows great solicitude 

 upon the approach of an intruder. 

 The adults assume the winter plumage 

 during July. 



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