126 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Turning to our usual authority for information about northern 

 species, we find Mr. Nelson saying : " This handsome Phalarope 

 arrives at the Yukon mouth and adjacent parts of Behring Sea coast 

 during the last few days of May or first of June, according to the 

 season. Its preference is for the flat, wet lands bordering the coast 

 and rivers, where it remains to breed. Very early in June the 

 females have each paid their court, and won a shy and gentle male to 

 share their coming cares. The eggs are laid in a slight depression, 

 generally on the damp flats where the birds are found. There is 

 rarely any lining to the nest." The eggs are hatched in July, and as 

 soon as the young are able to fly, all leave the nesting ground and 

 are found only at sea. 



"They breed all along the Arctic shores of Alaska and Siberia, 

 wherever suitable flats occur, and even reach those isolated islands, 

 forever encircled by ice, which lie beyond. It is not rare in Spitz- 

 bergen, where its eggs have been found laid upon the bare ground. 



"During the cruise of the Corwin, in the summer of 1881, we 

 found this and the Northern Phalarope abundant wherever we went 

 on the Alaskan or Siberian shores of the Arctic, and their pretty 

 forms, as they flitted here and there over the surface of the smooth 

 sea, now alighting a moment and gliding quickly to right and left, 

 pecking at the minute animals in the" water, then taking wing for 

 an instant, appeared in ever-changing groups." "In winter these 

 birds pass south and occur along the coasts of the Pacific on both 

 shores, reaching the south coasts of India on the Asiatic side." 



The foregoing are but brief extracts from Mr. Nelson's interesting 

 account of the home habits of these little-known birds, my limited 

 space having prevented me from making more lengthy quotations. 



GEXUS PHALAROPUS BRISSOX. 



SUBGENUS PHALAROPUS. 

 PHALAROPUS LOBATUS (LINN.). 



89. Northern Phalarope. (223) 



Adult: Dark opaque ash or grayish-black, the back variegated with tawny; 

 upper tail coverts and under parts, mostly white; side of the head and neck, 

 with a broad stripe of rich chestnut, generally meeting on the jugulum; breast, 

 otherwise with ashy-gray. Young: Lacking the chestnut. Length, about 7 

 inches; wing, 4; tail, 2; bill, tarsus and middle toe, each under 1, black. 



