Wilson’s Phalarope 103 
Wilson’s Phalarope. Steganopus tricolor. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 224—Colorado Records—Ridgway 73, p. 187; 
Morrison, 89, p. 167 ; Cooke 97, pp. 19, 63, 199 ; Henderson 08, p. 107 ; 
09, p. 227; Markman 07, p. 156; Warren 09, p. 14; 10, p. 29; Hersey 
& Rockwell 09, p. 114. 
Description.—Female in summer—Crown ashy-grey, becoming white 
on, @ narrow stripe along the neck; a black band from the eye along 
the sides of the neck, becoming chestnut posteriorly and continued as 
scattered patches on to the scapulars; rest of the upper-parts slaty- 
grey, dusky brown on the wings; upper tail-coverts white; below 
white, the lower part of the neck and sides of the chest washed with 
rufous; iris dark brown, bill and legs black. Length 9-5; wing 5-1; 
tail 2-0; culmen 1-3; tarsus 1-2. 
The male is rather smaller—wing 4-8—and less brightly marked. 
In winter there is no black or rusty ; the upper-parts are pure ashy-grey 
edged with whitish ; below, the upper tail-coverts, line over the eye and 
forehead, white; breast and sides washed with dusky. Young birds 
are dusky brown above, the feathers edged with buffy-rufous ; below 
white, the breast and lower-neck washed with rufous. 
Distribution.—Breeding from the eastern slopes of the Rocky 
Mountains in Alberta, south to Utah and Illinois; south in winter as 
far as Patagonia. 
Wilson’s Phalarope is a fairly common migrant in Colorado, 
while a certain proportion, of the birds stop through the summer and 
breed in the north-east of the State along the lower Platte Valley, 
and perhaps at San Luis Lakes, whence there is a young bird of the year, 
taken July 10th, in the Aiken collection. Warren recently found it 
common, at Medano Ranch in June. In other parts of the State it is 
chiefly known as a migrant. It reaches Loveland about the last week 
of April. Breeding records are Fort Collins (Cooke), Loveland (Gale) ; 
Barr Lake (Hersey & Rockwell); on migration, Middle and South 
Parks (Carter), Salida, May 4th (Frey), Glenwood Spring (Cooke), 
and Coventry (Warren). 
Habits.—This Phalarope is almost always found near 
water, where they either swim about in a very buoyant 
manner or run in shallows and moist grass, picking up 
small mollusca and insects which form their food. Gale 
found three nests on June 19th, near Loveland; they 
consisted merely of a little depression in the ground 
near a lake, lined with a few grasses and contained four 
