SHORE BIRDS. Order IX. LIMICOL^ 

 PHALAROPES. Family PHALAROPODIDAE 



Phalaropes are small Plover-like l)irds, but with lobate webbed feet, similar 

 to those o£ the Grebes and Coots. 





Greenish buff 



■222. Red Phalarope. Phalaropux fulic/irius. 



Range.- Northern Hemiaphere, breeding in the 

 tar north, and migrating to the middle portions 

 of the United States, chiefly on the coasts. 



The Red Phalarope during tlie breeding season 

 has tlie uuderparts wholly reddish brown; tliey 

 are very rarely seen in the United States in tliis 

 dress, however for it is early changed for a suit 

 of plain gray and wiiite. 

 This species has a much 

 stouter bill than the two 

 following; it is about nine 

 inches in length. All the 

 Phalaropes are good swim- 

 mers, and tills species, es- 

 pecially, is often found in 

 large flocks off the coast, 

 floating on the surface of 

 the water; they feed largely upon small marine 

 insects. Nests in hollows on the ground, lined 

 with a few grasses. The eggs are three or four 

 in number, generally of a greenish buff color, 

 spotted and blotched with brown and blackish. 

 Data. — Myvates, Iceland, June 19, 1S97, Collector, 

 C. Jefferys. 



223. Northern Phalarope. I^obipes lahidus. 



Range. — Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the 

 northern parts of the British Provinces. 



This is the smallest of the Phalaropes, being 

 about eight Inches long; in summer it has a 

 chestnut band across the breast and on the side 

 of the neck. Its habits and nesting habits vary 

 but little from those of the Red Phalarope, al- 

 though its distribution is a little more southerly, 

 and it is not as exclusively maritime as the pre- 

 ceding species. It is found on both coasts of the 

 United States, but more common on the Pacific side, 

 during the fall and spring, when going to or re- 

 turning from its winter quarters in the tropics. 

 Their eggs cannot, with certainty, be distinguished 

 from the preceding species. 



Red Phalarope. 

 Northern Phalarope, 



X^ 



Greenish buff 



137 



