184 PHALAROPODID^ : PHALAROPES. 



Fam. PHALAROPODID^: Phalaropes or 

 Coot-footed Sandpipers. 



WILSON'S PHALAROPE. 

 Steganopus wilsoni (Sad.) Cones. 



Chars. Bill long, equalling the tarsus, exceeding the head, ex- 

 tremely slender, terete and acute. Culmen and gonys broad and 

 depressed. Lateral grooves long and narrow, reaching nearly 

 to tip of bill. Interramal space* narrow and very short, extend- 

 ing only half way to the end of the bill. Nostrils at the extreme 

 base of the bill. Wings of moderate length. Tail short ; 

 deeply doubly-emarginate ; legs greatly elongated ; tibiae bare 

 for a considerable distance ; tarsus exceeding the middle toe. 

 Toes long and slender, broadly margined with an even, unscol- 

 loped membrane, united but for a brief space basally. Claws 

 moderately long, arched and acute. Adult in breeding dress: 

 Bill, legs and feet, black ; crown of head, pale ash, passing into 

 white along a narrow strip on the nape. A narrow, distinct, 

 pure white line over the eye. Sides of neck intense purplish- 

 chestnut, or dark wine-red ; anteriorly deepening upon the auri- 

 culars into velvety black ; posteriorly continued, somewhat duller 

 in tint, as a stripe along each side of the back to the tips of the 

 scapulars. Other upper parts pearly-ash, blanching on the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts. Wings pale dull grayish-brown ; the 

 . coverts slightly white-tipped, the primaries dusky-brown, their 

 shafts brownish-white, except at tip. Tail marbled with pearly- 

 gray and white. All the under parts pure white, but the fore- 

 part and sides of the breast washed with pale chestnut-brown, as 

 if with a weak solution of the rich color on the neck, and a faint 

 tinge of the same along the sides of the body to the ilanks. The 

 female is larger and handsomer than the male. Length, 9.50 ; 

 extent, 16.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 2.00; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.25. 

 Specimens just fledged are in a plumage not generally known : 



