468 SNEGANOPUS WILSONI, WILSON's PHALAROPE, 



ous on the long inner secondaries, and giving a general aspect like that of a Sand- 

 piper of the genns Actodromas. Upper tail-coverts pure -white. Tail clear ash, edged 

 and much marbled with white, the ash darker at its line of demarcation from the 

 white. Line over eye, and whole under parts white, the breast with a faint rusty 

 tinge, and the sides slightly marbled with gray. Quills dusky, the secondaries white- 

 edged, and the shafts of the primaries T\hitish. — This stage is of extremely brief dura- 

 tion, beginning to give way, almost as soon as the bird is full grown, to the clear uniform 

 ashy of the upper parts oif the fall and winter condition. The change, in some speci- 

 mens shot early in August, is already very evident, clear ashy feathers being mixed, on 

 the crown and all the upper ijarts, with such as just described. Size of tbe smallest 

 specimen only 8.'2ri in length by 14.50 in extent ; the wing 4.60. 



In full plumage this is the handsomest of the three Phalaropes, as 

 well as the largest, and one of the most elegant birds of the entire 

 group of waders. It was apparently first noticed by the gifted natur- 

 alist to whom it was subsequently dedicated, under the previously 

 occupied name of P. lobatus. To those familiar with Wilson's writings, 

 which portray his own character with the same fidelity that the birds 

 it was his passion to depict are rendered, his name brings sadness to 

 the mind, and tempts a question of the wisdom of a dispensation that 

 took him away, while countless useless and hurtful lives were spared. 

 His friend and admirer, Thomas Nuttall, expresses thoughts that find 

 an echo in our own hearts : " Hurried to the tomb from amidst his 

 unfinished and ill-requited labors, his favorite Orpheus and Wood- 

 thrush pour out their melody in vain. The Bluebird, which hastens to 

 inform us of the return of spring, delights no longer the favorite of their 

 song. Like his own beautiful and strange bird now before us, his tran- 

 sient visit, which delighted us, has ended; but his migration, no longer 

 to be postponed, has exceeded the bounds of the earth, and spring and 

 autumn, with their wandering hosts of flitting birds, may still return ; 

 while he, translated to Eiysian groves, will only be remembered in the 

 thrill of the plaintive iSTigiitingale ! * * *." 



Wilson's Phalarope is of very general distribution and common occur- 

 rence in the United States from the Mississippi Valley westward, but 

 apparently rare, or even exceptional, in most of the Eastern States. Our 

 Xew England and Middle States' records are comparatively few, and 

 agree in attesting the rarity of the species in those sections. I never 

 saw it in Maryland, Virginia, or either of the Carolinas — all places 

 where my protracted collecting would doubtless have brought it to my 

 notice had it been of regular occurrence. Its line of migration appears 

 to be mainly the Mississippi Valley,and thence to ii:eEocky Mountains, 

 and in this region it may be called common. It does not go far north 

 to breed; in this being strikingly contrasted with the other two. Latitude 

 54° is stated to be the limit, in the region of the Saskatchewan, while 

 the greater proportion of individuals nest within our limits — in Dakota, 

 Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, and even Illinois, 

 from all of which places we have authentic advices. Perfectly dressed 

 specimens are taken even so far south as Texas. I am under the belief 

 that I found it breeding along the Arkansas Eiver, between Forts 

 Larned and Lyons, on some of the many pools that dot the prairie. 

 There were many water birds here, among them Franklin's Gull, the 

 Black Tern, and the Avocet, the latter certainly breeding. My speci- 

 mens of the Phalarope were in full plumage, and appeared, by their 

 actions, to have established themselves for the summer, although I 

 found no eggs. This was in June. The same month, nine years sub- 

 sequently, I found the Phalaropes breeding on reedy pools, together 

 with Godwits, Curlew, Black Terns and Coots, and various Ducks, 

 along that portion of the Eed Eiver of the North which separates Min- 

 nesota from Dakota ; and later, in the beginning of August, I took 



