Genus PHALAROPUS or PHALAROPES. 



Type PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS. 



Phalaropus of Brisson (1760). — The birds comprising the 

 present genus are characterised by having lateral lobes to the 

 toes, and laterally compressed tarsi. The wings are long and 

 pointed, the first quill the longest ; the tail is short and somewhat 

 rounded. The tarsus is scutellated posteriorly and anteriorly ; 

 the tibia just above the tarsal joint devoid of feathers. The bill 

 is moderately long and straight, depressed and weak. Nostrils 

 basal, oval with an elevated border. Toes three in front, one 

 behind articulated ; united by a web at the base. 



This genus is composed of three species confined to the 

 northern and temperate portions of the Patearctic and Nearctic 

 regions. Two species are British, one of which is a local 

 summer visitor, and the other a nomadic migrant to the British 

 Islands. 



The Phalaropes are dwellers on the sea coasts and more inland 

 lakes and tarns. They are the most aquatic of all the CharadriidjE, 

 and swim well and lightly, often going hundreds of miles out to 

 sea. They are birds of powerful and well-sustained flight, and 

 walk and run with equal facility. Their notes are shrill and 

 piercing. They subsist principally on insects, crustaceans, and 

 worms. They make scanty nests on the ground, and their pyri- 

 form eggs are four in number and spotted. They are mono- 

 gamous ; but the males perform the duties of incubation. They 

 are more or less gregarious and social, and often build in scattered 

 colonies. 



