706 THE WILSON PHALAROPE. 
No. 286. 
WILSON’S PHALAROPE. 
A. O. U. No, 224. Steganopus tricolor Vieill. 
Description.—Adult female in summer: Top of head and upper back pearl- 
gray; nape and upper tail-coverts white; a white supraloral line; a black stripe 
starting from before eye passes backward, becoming broader on side of neck, 
changes to deep chestnut on hind-neck, and continuing backward over shoulder, is 
interrupted and dispersed over the scapulars; rump and wings grayish brown, 
the latter with a very little white edging; tail still lighter gray-brown; a reddish 
brown wash across throat and chest and sometimes sides, as tho the coloring 
matter of the hind-neck had “run”; remaining underparts pure white; bill black; 
feet brownish. Adult male in summer; Similar to female but smaller, lacking 
the pearl-gray and chestnut,—slaty-gray and rusty instead; general appearance 
of back and wings brownish gray, with blackish centers of feathers and some 
ochraceous edging; black on sides of head and neck almost obsolete; rufous tinge 
of chest very slight. dults in winter: “Above plain ash-gray ; upper tail-coverts, 
superciliary stripe, and lower parts white, the chest and sides of breast shaded 
with pale gray. Young: Top of head, back, and scapulars dusky blackish, the 
feathers distinctly bordered with buff; wing-coverts also bordered with pale buff 
or whitish; upper tail-coverts, superciliary stripe, and lower parts white, the 
neck tinged with buff” (Ridgw.). Adult female length 9.70 (246.4); wing 5.23 
(132.8); tail 2.03 (51.6); bill 1.40 (35.6); tarsus 1.38 (35.1); middle toe and 
claw 1.20 (30.5). Adult male length 8.75 (222.3); wing 4.69 (119.1); tail 2.17 
(55.1); bill 1.25 (31.8); tarsus 1.26 (32); middle toe and claw 1.06 (26.9). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size; pearl-gray, chestnut, and black 
in masses distinctive in adult female. This bird superficially resembles the pre- 
ceding in some of its plumage; its larger size and especially longer bill, and larger 
feet, as well as really different color pattern, should be noted. 
Nesting.—Nest: a shallow depression in the earth lined sparingly with grass, 
or not. Eggs: 3 or 4, grayish or brownish buff, speckled, spotted, and blotched 
with dark brown. Av. size, 1.30 x .90 (33 X 23). Season: c. June tst; one brood. 
General Range.—Temperate North America, chiefly the interior, breeding 
from northern Illinois and Utah northward to the Saskatchewan region; south in 
winter to Brazil and Patagonia. 
Range in Washington.—Not common summer resident on the East-side. 
Authorities.—[“Wilson’s phalarpe” (sic), Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 
(1885), 23.] Johnson, (R. H.), Condor, Vol. VIII. Jan. 1906, p. 27. 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) C. 
MOST exasperating fowls! But what else could you expect of a 
freakish bird family which reverses nature’s law and lets the girls do 
the courting? It happened—or rather, it didn’t happen—in this wise. 
On the tst of June, 1905, at a point on Brook Lake where the wading 
