1912] Taylor: Birds and Reptiles of Northern Nevada. 359 



dates of occurrence of this migratory species anywhere at the 

 latitude of Quinn River Crossing. 



Four individuals (nos. 9107-9110) were preserved. 



Steganopus tricolor Vieillot 



Wilson Phalarope 



Noted at Quinn River Crossing and Hot Springs, Thousand 

 Creek Valley. The first individuals were observed on May 20, 

 when eight were seen circling over a marshy meadow near the 

 Quinn River. They were giving utterance to a peculiar nuptial 

 (?) call-note, which may be transcribed as "oit! oit! oit!" pos- 

 sessing a nasal quality difficult to imitate, but somewhat resem- 

 bling the croak of a toad {Bufo lentiginosus) during the breeding 

 season. At the instant of utterance of the note the bird which 

 is calling raises its head somewhat, pauses momentarily in its 

 flight, and its throat bulges slightly. The females, which of 

 course are in this species much the larger and more brilliantly 

 colored of the two sexes, evidently uttered most of the call-notes. 

 From this time on Wilson phalaropes were seen daily on the 

 marshes along the river, it being a common occurrence to flush 

 several individuals from some shallow still-water lagoon. 



From observation of their actions we were led to believe that 

 they were nesting some time before we had other evidence on the 

 subject. One bird when flushed feigned lameness, and the pha- 

 laropes usually circled about the collector in small companies of 

 two or three, seemingly excited over his presence. 



On ]May 31 a male was flushed from a nest in the marsh. 

 The bird flew a short distance and then seemed to fall wounded 

 into the grass. Upon folloMang it, the same decoying pretense 

 was repeated several times. The nest contained two eggs, so was 

 left on the suspicion that the set was not complete. By June 2 

 another egg had been laid. There had been little attempt at 

 construction of the nest, which was located on a small island of 

 moist ground and surrounded by short marsh grass. Careful 

 examination showed that the dead grass stems had been collected 

 in some way, either by scraping them up or fetching them in. 

 The eggs rested in a slight depression in the accumulated mate- 

 rial at a height of 19 mm. {% inch) above the ground. The size 



