WILSON PHALAROPE 
224. Steganopus tricolor. 9 in. 
Bill long and slender. Female in summer with a 
black line through eye, shading into a broad stripe 
of rich chestnut on the sides of the neck. Male much 
duller colored and slightly smaller. This phalarope 
is one of the most beautiful of all our shore birds, 
and is the most southerly distributed of the phalaropes. 
It is a bird of the interior, and is only rarely or cas- 
ually met with on the sea coasts. It commonly travels 
about in small companies instead of large flocks as the 
other two species do, and is not as often seen on the 
water, although it can swim well. 
Notes.—Usually silent, but has a low quack. 
Nest.—Of grasses, on the ground, usually concealed 
in a tuft of grass, and near the border of a marsh or 
pond; the 3 or 4 eggs are brownish or greenish-buff 
with black markings (1.30 x .90); June. 
Range.—Breeds chiefly in the interior, from Towa and 
California, north to Hudson Bay; winters south of the 
US: 
143 
