332 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



The Northern Phalarope feeds chiefly, although not exclusively, 

 on aquatic forms of animal life : Aquatic worms (including Nereis, the 

 oyster-worm), Crustacea, such as small shrimps, larvae of aquatic in- 

 sects, flies, especially those species which inhabit the surface of water, 

 salt-marsh mosquitoes, crane flies, grasshoppers, clover-root curcuUos, 

 wireworms, click beetles, and water beetles (Dytiscidae) (McAtee, 

 1911a). 



It is a mistake to refer to the Northern Phalarope as a "game 

 bird." Its small size, if nothing else, should remove it from the list 

 of species reckoned as objects of pursuit for food or sport. This, 

 coupled with the fact that its food habits, when it resorts to non- 

 aquatic forms of life, make it beneficial to our agricultural interests, 

 should be sufficient ground for placing it in the category of perman- 

 ently protected shore birds. 



Wilson Phalarope 



Stegarwpus tricolor Vieillot 



Other names — Needle-billed Snipe; Fhalaropus tricolor; Fhalaropus wilsoni. 



Description — Adult male in spring and summer: Top of liead and stripe 

 from base of bill through eye to ear region, dull blackish brown; forehead 

 sometimes suffused with grayish white; stripe over eye, lower eyelid, spot on 

 hind neck, chin, upper throat and lower portion of cheek, white; area behind 

 ear region black, sometimes suffused with reddish; bill black; iris brown; upper 

 surface except rump and upper tail coverts dull dark brown, many of the 

 feathers with lighter margins, and some marked with rusty; feathers of hind 

 neck slightly washed with white; rump feathers drab, tipped with white; 

 upper tail coverts with light drab shaft streaks and white shafts and margins; 

 outer surface of closed wing uniform dull dark brown; primaries blackish, 

 shaft of outermost one white; bend of wing mottled white and light brown; 

 inner surfaces of flight feathers light grayish brown, shafts white; lining of wing 

 and axillars, white; sides of hind neck dull reddish; throat and fore-chest abruptly 

 light buffy, more whitish near mid-line and fading to liglit drab on lower 

 chest; sides and flanks pale drab, many of the feathers with dusky shaft 

 streaks and dull whitish tips; rest of lower surface white; legs and feet black. 

 Total length "8.25-9.00" inches (210-228 mm.) (Eidgway, 1900, p. 145); folded 

 wing 4.60^.92 (117-125); bill along culmen 1.08-1.22 (27.5-31.1); tarsus 1.17- 

 1.29 (29.7-32.8) (seven specimens from California and Nevada). Adult female 

 in spring and early summer: Top of head forward to upper base of bill pearl 

 gray; conspicuous stripe through eye and continuing more broadly down side 

 of hind neck, black; short, black-bordered stripe above and in front of eye 

 white; lower eyelid, chin, upper throat and lower portion of cheek, white; 

 bill black; iris brown; middle of hind neck light grayish or white; side of 

 hind neck behind black stripe, and outer margins of scapulars, deep cinnamon 

 red; back otherwise shading from light gray on hind neck through deeper 

 slate gray to dull brown on lower back and rump; upper tail coverts white, the 

 longer feathers irregularly marked with dusky; middle tail feathers light drab 

 with white tippings, lateral ones light drab with increasing amounts of white 



