PHALAROPES 



jTS^aiE, 



(223) Lobipes lobatus 



(Linn.) (Lat., a flap, foot; lobed). 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE; 

 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. Ad. 

 9 in summer — Plumage as shown 

 by the bird in foreground; sides of 

 neck reddish, this color sometimes 

 extending nearly around the neck; 

 greater coverts tipped with white; 

 scapulars edged with buff. The d' 

 is much duller plumaged and the 

 back streaked with ochre. In winter 



— More or less gray above and 

 white below; greater coverts and 

 part of secondaries white. L., 7.25 

 W., 4.40; Tar., .80; B., .85. Nest 



— A grass-lined hollow on the ground; 

 eggs greenish-buff, spotted with black. 



Range — Breeds from Ungava, 

 Keewatin and Aleutian Islands north- 

 ward. Migrates throughout the U. S. 

 to its winter home in southern oceans. 



touching our coast unless blown in by adverse winds until 

 they reach Virginia. Thence they pass to Cuba, Brazil, 

 and to their winter quarters in southern oceans. 



They rest on the ocean and get their food from its surface. 

 Steamers, hundreds of miles from land, often pass through 

 large flocks of them floating on the water, during August 

 and again in May. Of similar migration habits are the more 

 common. 



NORTHERN PHALAROPES. These birds are also 

 known within our borders only as migrants, chiefly in their 

 gray dress, although red-necked individuals of this species 

 are more often found than red-breasted ones of the last. 



The habits of phalaropes are unique in that they are our 

 only birds in which the females usurp all the usual rights of 

 the males. They are larger and much more brightly plu- 

 maged, the male being clothed comparatively about as we 

 would expect, judging from all other birds, the female should 

 be. She does all the love-making, being no more like the 

 shy, coy birds of her sex to which we are accustomed than is 



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