ONTARIO. 



times by amateur gunners mistaken for Ducks, and in this way a 

 few lose their Hves, but except in such cases the}^ are not 

 molested — Mud Hens generally not being looked upon as game. 



Order LIMICOL^. Shore Birds. 



Family PHALAROPODID^. 



Genus CRYMOPHILUS Vieillot. 



81. CRYMOPHILUS FULICARIUS (Linn.). 222. 



Red Phalarope. 

 Adult with the under-parts purplish chestnut of variable intensity, white 

 in the young ; above variegated with blackish and tawny. Length, 7-8 

 inches ; wing, 5 ; tail, 2f ; bill, i, yellowish, black-tipped ; tarsus, |, greenish 

 Hab. Northern parts of Northern hemisphere, breeding in the Arctic 

 regions and migrating south in winter ; in the United States south to the 

 Middle States, Ohio, Illinois, and Cape St. Lucas ; chiefly maritime, 

 Nest a hollow in the ground lined with dry grass. 



Eggs 3 to 4 ; variable in color, usuallj' brownish-olive spotted or blotched 

 with dark chocolate-brown. 



Vast numbers of Phalaropes breed in Spitzbergen and on 

 the shores of the Polar Sea. At the approach of winter thej'^ 

 retire to the south, but in these migratory journeys they follow 

 the line of the sea coast so thit the stragglers we see inland are 

 most likely bewildered by fog or driven by storm away from 

 their associates and their regular course. 



Dr. Garnier saw a flock of six, one of which he secured at 

 Mitchell's Bay, near St. Clair, in the fall of 1880, and on the 

 17th of November, 1882, Mr. Brooks, of Milton, shot a single 

 bird which he found swimming alone on Hamilton Bay, a little 

 way out from Dynes's place. These are the only records I have 

 of the occurrence of the species in Southern Ontario. 



Genus PHALAROPUS Brisson. 



Subgenus PHALAROPUS. 



82. PHALAROPUS LOBATUS (Linn.). 223. 



Northern Fhalarope. 



Adult, dark opaque-ash or grayish-black, the back variegated with 

 tawny ; upper tail-coverts and under-parts mostly white ; side of the head 



87 



