BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 



225 



RED PHALAROPE {Phalaropus fulicarius). 



Common or local names: Bank-bird; Brown Bank-bird; 



Whale-bird. 



Gulf-bird; Sea-goose; 



Summer. 



Winter. 



Length. — 7.50 to 8.25 inches. 



Adult Female in Summer. — Above mottled and striped with black and 

 pale brown or buff; chin, region all around base of bill, forehead, top 

 of head, nape and much of hind neck black; wing dark ash, with a 

 white patch; cheeks and space above eye to black crown white; bill 

 orange; sides and front of neck and other under parts reddish chestnut 

 or wine red; tail black, gray and buff; legs and feet yellow. 



Adult Male. — Duller; white on cheek less pure and defined, and top of 

 head streaked with rufous or buff. 



Fall and Winter Plumage. — Above mainly gray; head largely white; lower 

 parts white; wings more or less black and white; bill blackish. 



Field Marks. — Easily distinguished in breeding plumage, but in fall is 

 known by its dagger-shaped bill, deep at base and tapering to near tip. 

 The other species have slim bills. 



Notes. — A musical clink, clink (Nelson). 



Range. — Northern and southern hemispheres. In North America breeds 

 from northern Alaska, Melville Island and northern Ellesmere Land 

 south to mouth of the Yukon, northern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, 

 Hudson Strait and southern Greenland; winter home unknown, but 

 probably on the oceans, at least as far south as Falkland Islands; mi- 

 grates along both coasts of United States; casual in the interior south 

 to Colorado, Kansas, Illinois and Maryland. 



History. 

 This species is probably a regular spring and fall migrant 

 off the coast of Massachusetts, but on account of its habit of 

 keeping well off shore it is noted only irregularly. It is called 



