NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



564. Northern Phalarope — lobipes hyperboreous. Greenish or 

 yellowish ash, thickly blotched with varying shades of brown ; three or 

 four; size from i.io to 1.30 long by .75 to .82 broad, averaging 1.20 by 

 .8; like the last, there is a great variation in size, shape and color. The 

 Northern, or Red-necked Phalarope is found throughout the Northern 

 Hemisphere, sometimes migrating into the tropics. Its distribution, 

 however, is chiefly maritime. Breeds in the Arctic regions. Several 

 specimens of this bird were taken on the Scioto River, Franklin county, 

 Ohio, a few years since by Dr. Jasper, and I have one which a boy killed 

 out of a flock of Sandpipers, September 17, 1885, on the Olentangy 

 River. The nesting habits are substantially the same as those of the 

 others. The eggs are laid in June. 



565. Wilson's Phalarope — steganopus wilsoni. Ashy-yellow, usually 

 coarsely spotted and blotched with brown of varying shades, with 

 numerous specks and scratches; three or four in number; size from 1.20 to 

 1.35 in length by 1.90 in breadth, making them elongate pyriform in 

 shape. This Phalarope was named after the renowned Alexander 

 Wilson, but Mr. E. W. Nelson (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club II., 1877, p. 58), 

 has probably written the most complete biography of the bird which 

 has yet appeared. On account of very limited space I am only able 

 to quote the following, respecting its nests, eggs, etc., from this 

 interesting article: "In Northern Illinois, where the following obser- 

 vations were made, Wilson's Phalarope is the most common summer 

 resident, occurring about grassy marshes and low prairies, and is 

 not exceeded in numbers by even the ever-present Spotted Sand- 

 piper. As is the case with several other species of birds, Lake 

 Michigan appears to form a limit to its common occurrence in the 

 eastern portion of its range. On the west it extends to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and between these limits it has been recorded during the 

 breeding season from the Saskatchewan to the Arkansas (Coues) and to 

 the city of Mexico (Nuttall.) It is more closely confined to its favorite 

 haunts than most water birds, and this may, in a measure, account for 

 the little hitherto known regarding its habits. During the first two weeks 

 of May, the exact date varying with the season, this beautiful bird first 

 makes its appearance in Northeastern Illinois. Its arrival is heralded by 

 a few females, which arrive first, and are found singly about the marshes. 

 At this time the females have a peculiar harsh note, which I have heard 

 but a few times, and only from solitary individuals before the arrival of 

 the main body. A few days later, small flocks, embracing both sexes, 

 may be found along the borders of grassy pools, or lying at midday on 



