PHALAROPODIDJi — THE PHALAROPES — STEGANOPTJS. 339 



deep water, iiiid being obliged to fly, and seemed to prefer flying to swimming. They 

 were not heard to utter a note. In their stomachs small worms and fragments of 

 very delicate shells were found. Tlie birds seen at the Eiipids of the Ohio flew in 

 the manner of the Common Snipe, proceeding at first in an undulating or zigzag line, 

 but more steadily after reac-hini;- a certain elevation. 



Jlr. Salvin i'ound in the collection of Don Yincente Constancia a specimen of this 

 Phalarope which had been olitaincil near the City of Guatemala, and Swainson states 

 that it is not uncommon on the borders of the lakes adjoining the City of Mexico, 

 from whence he received specimens of both adult and young. Mr. Dresser mentions 

 that in September, in travelling from Brownville to San Antonio, he saw what he 

 had no dovd)t was a bird of this species, and on the 4th of July, 1864, he shot a pair 

 on some flooded land near San Antonio. Mr. J. A. Allen found these birds abun- 

 dant in the Valley of Great Salt Lake, and they continued so into September. He 

 considers this one of the most characteristic species of that region, where it is a Slim- 

 mer resident, breeding in great numbers on the islands and shores of Salt Lake. Mr. 

 Eidgway met with the Wilson Phalarope in May at Pyramid Lake in Nevada, and 

 again saw it in June in the ponds near the Kiver Jordan in Utah. It has been 

 noticed in September on the Colorado Eiver ; and Dr. Cooper thence infers that this 

 may be the species observed by him during the summer among the lakes of the Cas- 

 cade Range. This species has been observed about the Upjier Missouri in the breed- 

 ing season, and on the Arkansas River between Forts Larned and Lyons. It has also 

 been met with in the summer in various parts of Minnesota and Dakota. 



Richardson states that this Phalarope breeds on the Saskatchewan Plains ; but it 

 was not met with by him beyond the o5th parallel, nor were anj' seen on the coast 

 of Hudson's Pay. He adds that this bird lays two or three eggs among the grass 

 on the margins of small lakes. The eggs are very obtuse at one end and taper 

 much at the other, and have a groiuid-color intermediate between yellowish gray and 

 cream-yellow, interspersed with roundish spots and a few larger blotches of umber 

 brown, most crowded at the obtuse end. The eggs measured 1.87 inches in length by 

 .94 of an inch in breadth. 



Specimens of this Phalarope were shot by Mr. William Brewster at Rye Beach in 

 the summer of 1872. Giraud mentions it as of occasional occurrence at Egg Harbor, 

 New Jersey, as well as on Long Island. 



The eggs of this species are pyriform in shajie, the ground varying from a light 

 fawn-colored drab to a deep rufous drab. The spots are of a dark bistre, of a varying 

 intensity, and very generally distributed. The specimens in the Smithsonian Col- 

 lection were procured from different points in Iowa, from Utah and Northern Illi- 

 nois. My own are from Northern Illinois and from Minnesota. Mr. Kennicott found 

 it breeding in the Calumet marshes in Illinois, near Lake Michigan. Mr. P>. F. Goss, 

 who procured the eggs from Minnesota, writes me that it breeds quite commonly on 

 marshes, and generally near water. The nest is almost always on hummocks, quite 

 deeply excavated, and lined with dry grasses. One was found on a platform raised 

 above the shallow water. 



