320 The Water-fowl Family 



laterally and with transverse scales in front, an- 

 terior toes with lateral membrane, and webbed 

 hind toes. They are excellent swimmers, obtain- 

 ing all their food in the water, and two species 

 spending most of the year on the ocean, often far 

 from land and sometimes in enormous flocks. 

 They are gentle birds, never suspecting danger, 

 and float on the water with marvellous grace, as 

 they feed on the minute ocean life, or the oil 

 sometimes on the surface. All are handsome 

 birds, but the females have much more brilliant 

 plumage than the males, and are said to do all 

 the courting; when that is finished, leaving the 

 males to incubate the eggs and care for the 

 young. All the species are found in North 

 America and have been separated into three 

 genera: Crymophilus, Phalaropus, and Steganopus. 



RED PHALAROPE 

 ( Crymophilus fulicarius) 



Adult female in breeding plumage Top of head, forehead, sides of 

 bill, and chin, black ; face and a line about the eye, white ; neck 

 and entire under parts, deep cinnamon, with a narrow, dusky line 

 on back of neck ; back and scapulars, black, the feathers tipped 

 with buff; the primaries, brownish on the outer web, with dusky 

 tips, grading into white on the inner web ; secondaries, brown, 

 edged with white ; wing-coverts, dark gray, the middle ones with 

 white edges ; a white bar across the wing ; rump, plumbeous in 

 centre, white on the sides ; upper tail-coverts, cinnamon ; middle 

 tail feathers, black, remainder, slate, the two outer ones with 

 rufous tips ; bill, yellow, with a black tip ; legs and feet, yellow- 

 ish olive ; iris, brown, 



