150 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



The eggs are usually four, sometimes only three in number 

 and about the same color and range of size as in the preced- 

 ing species. Large flocks occur at sea in fall and spring, and 

 they feed on surface forms of life. The female of this species 

 also takes the lead in family affairs. 



Genus STEGANOPUS Vieillot. 



224. Steganopus tricolor Vieill. Wilson's Phalarope. 



Plumage of adult female in summer : blackish line each side of crown ; 

 crown, forehead and middle of back bluish gray ; rufous line down sides of 

 back and scapulars ; nape white ; upper breast rufous tinged ; upper tail cov- 

 erts and under parts white. Plumage of adult male in summer: above 

 fuscous brown with paler borderings ; sides of neck and breast rufous tinged ; 

 line over eye, nape, upper tail coverts and lower parts white. Plumage of 

 winter adults : above gray with white margins to feathers ; stripe over eye, 

 upper tail coverts and lower parts white except for a grayish suffusion on 

 chest. Immature plumage : above darkish or blackish with buff borders to 

 feathers ; neck buff tinged ; line over eyes, upper tail coverts and lower parts 

 white. Wing of female about 5.20, wing of male about 4.85; culmen of 

 female 1.34, culmen of male 1.22 ; tarsus of female 1.36, tarsus of male 1.22. 

 Feet with lobe-like membranes. 



Geog. Dist. — The interior of temperate North America, breeding from 

 Illinois and Utah northward to the Saskatchewan ; in winter south to Pata- 

 gonia and Brazil. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; a bird of the year shot at Sabattus Pond, 

 September or October, 1906, (C. D. Farrar). Cumberland; three taken near 

 Scarborough, June 9, 1881, (Smith, F. & S. 20, p. 124). 



We have only these recorded instances of the species being 

 found in Maine, it being a very exceptional straggler. On 

 the western prairies they nest in grassy meadows and marshes 

 bordering streams or small ponds. The male bird scratches 

 a slight hollow which is unlined or sparsely lined with grass, 

 in which the female lays three or four eggs and leaves the rest 

 of the task to the male, The eggs are cream buff or bufly 

 white, heavily blotched with chocolate (Nelson) and measure 

 about 1.28 X 0.94. The food consists of small insects, worms 

 and other similar material. 



