148 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Genus CRYMOPHILUS Vieillot. 



222. Crymophilus fulicarius (Linn.). Red Phalarope; 

 Coot-footed Tringa; Gray Phalarope; Sea Goose. 



Plumage of adult female in summer: fore part of head blackish; hind 

 head and chin fuscous ; sides of head white ; back and scapulars blackish 

 with buff borders to feathers ; wings gray with white tips to the greater coverts 

 and part of the secondaries ; upper tail coverts rufous ; below reddish brown. 

 Plumage of adult male in summer : colors not as bright as in the female ; 

 top of head and back of neck streaked with ochraceous and dark ; white on 

 sides of head less prominent ; size smaller. Plumage of adults in winter : 

 back of neck and region about eye fuscous ; wings grayish fuscous with 

 white tips to the secondaries and coverts ; back and scapulars pearl gray ; 

 rump and tail fuscous. Immature plumage : crown, hind neck, back and 

 scapulars black, edged with ochraceous ; wing coverts plumbeous, the mid- 

 dle coverts bordered with buff ; rump and upper tail coverts plumbeous ; tail 

 coverts with ochraceous border ; throat and chest brownish buff tinged ; 

 remainder of head, neck and lower parts white. Feet with scalloped lateral 

 membranes (lobed). Wing 5.20 to 5.50; culmen 0.90; tarsus 0.84. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern parts of northern hemisphere, breeding chiefly in 

 Arctic regions and migrating south in winter ; in the United States found 

 in winter south to the Middle States, Ohio Valley and Cape St. Lucas. 



County Records. — Cumberland; rare in migration, (Brock); one fall of 

 1899, (Lord); Sept. 26, 1904, one secured at Westbrook, and Oct. 7, 1905, 

 another at Old Orchard, (Norton, J. M. O. S. 1905, p. 47). Penobscot ; I know 

 of a pair being taken at Hermon Pond, (Hardy). Somerset; accidental, one 

 shot October 17, 1893, (Morrell). Washington; not uncommon, a few are 

 summer resident, (Boardman). York; Miss Dane has one mounted which 

 was taken near Kittery, (W. L. Fernald). 



This species is primarily a bird of the open ocean except 

 during the breeding season, and is mainly found far out from 

 our coast. It is occasionally taken along our shores in fall 

 and more rarely in spring. Mr. Boardman twice found the 

 species breeding in Maine. 



The eggs are pale olive gray, spotted and blotched with 

 brown and chocolate. Four is almost invariably the number 

 laid in a slight nest of dry grass in a hollow in the earth. Four 

 eggs now before me were taken at Skutustachi, North Iceland, 

 June 17, 1895, from a nest on the ground. These eggs measure 

 1.19 X 0.83, 1.18 X 0.78, 1.18 x 0.82, 1.20 x 0.80. During the 



