320 GAME BIRDS OF GALIFOBNIA 



Red Phalarope 



Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus) 



Other names — Gray Phalarope; Sea Goose; Whale-bird; Bow-fin Bird; 

 Crymophilus fulicarius. 



Desckiption — Adult male in spring and early summer: Top of head, hind 

 neck and back, sooty black with broad feather marginings of buffy brown, 

 giving a streaked appearance; region around eye dull or buffy white, most 

 extensive below and behind eye; area about base of bill, and chin, mixed 

 reddish white and black, white predominating on chin; bill dull yellow at 

 base, brownish black at tip and about nostrils; iri^ "brown" (Audubon, 1842, 

 V, p. 293); rump slate-colored; upper tail coverts tawny, with some dark shaft 

 streaks; tail above sooty brown, the feathers with narrow tawny or whitish 

 margins; outer surface of closed wing brownish slate; edges of coverts white, 

 those of greater coverts extensively so, forming a conspicuous white band, 

 this being continued along tips of secondaries; flight feathers sooty brown, 

 shafts of primaries and bases and shafts of secondaries, white; tertials 

 margined with dull tawny; under surface of wing and axillars white; margin 

 of wing at and below bend, mottled white and dusky; under surface of flight 

 feathers dusky, becoming brownish toward tips; sides of neck and under sur- 

 face dull cinnamon red with more or less white scattered along middle of 

 belly; feathers of sides and flanks with dusky shaft streaks; under tail coverts 

 like under surface, but with some of the feathers white; feet dark brown, 

 darker at joints, webs lighter. Total length 7.90 inches (200 mm.) (two speci- 

 mens from California); folded wing 4.77-5.18 (121.7-131.8); bill along culmen 

 0.82-0.95 (20.8-24.3); tarsus 0.83-0.90 (21.1-22.9) (ten specimens from Cali- 

 fornia and Alaska). Adult female in spring and early summer: Top of head, 

 chin, and area about bill, deep brownish black, darker above than below; 

 area around eye, white, more extensive below and behind eye; hind neck and 

 back dull black; feathers of back extensively margined with light buffy or 

 pale tawny; rump slate colored; middle upper tail coverts pale buffy with 

 brownish black shaft streaks; outer tail coverts clear cinnamon red; inner tail 

 feathers brownish black with narrow light brown edgings, outer ones lighter 

 with whiter edgings; wing as in male; side of neck, and whole under sur- 

 face including sides, flanks and under tail coverts, uniform deep cinnamon 

 red, approaching chestnut, with a very few white feathers on belly. Total 

 length 7.96-9.00 inches (202-228 mm.) (seven specimens from California and 

 , Alaska) ; folded wing 5.06-5.48 (128.4-138.6) ; bill along culmen 0.82-0.96 

 (20.8-24.5); tarsus 0.79-0.89 (20.0-22.6) (ten specimens from California). 

 Adults, both sexes, in late fall and winter: Head white, except for blackish 

 area almost encircling eye and extending backwards over ear region; back 

 of head and hind neck blackish; back and scapulars pearl gray with narrow 

 white feather tippings; rump dusky brown; middle upper tail coverts blackish, 

 with buffy edges, lateral ones white with gray shaft -streaks; tail and wing as 

 in summer except that lighter margins are lost or reduced by wear; sides of 

 chest, sides of body, and flanks, grayish; whole lower surface otherwise white. 

 Juvenile plumage: Top of head mixed black and tawny; cheek and stripe from 

 side of bill running over eye, buffy white; chin white; back and tail, black with 

 broad feather margins of tawny; rump gray; outer surface of closed wing 

 largely dull grayish brown; greater coverts and secondaries broadly tipped 

 with white, forming a broad bar across wing; breast pale brown; rest of under 



