WILSON PHALASOPE 333 



irregularly distributed; outer surface of closed wing uniform dull dark brown; 

 primaries blackish; shaft of outermost primary white, of the rest light brown; 

 some of secondaries narrowly margined with white; axillars and lining of 

 wing white; bend of wing mottled white and light brown; under surfaces of 

 flight feathers light grayish brown with white shafts; lower throat and upper 

 part of chest abruptly tawny, darkest toned at sides, paling on breast, sides 

 and flanks; rest of under surface white; feet and legs black. Total length 

 "9.40-10.00" inches (239-254 mm.) (Eidgway, loo. cit.) ; folded wing 4.97- 

 5.29 (126.6-134.3); bill along culmen 1.25-1.39 (31.8-35.2); tarsus 1.19-1.32 

 (30.1-33.6) (ten specimens from California and Nevada). Adults and birds of 

 the year, hoth sexes, in late summer, fall and winter: Forehead, side of head, 

 stripe above eye, and whole under surface, white; top of head, stripe through 

 eye, hind neck, and whole back, brownish gray with minute white feather 

 tippings; upper tail coverts chiefly white; wings and tail as in adult in spring; 

 sides of throat, chest and body, faintly washed with light gray. Juvenile 

 plumage: Upper parts blackish, the feathers extensively margined with light 

 rusty, giving a streaked effect; chin and area around eye, whitish; bill black, 

 yellowish at base of lower mandible; iris light brown; throat and sides of chest 

 washed with dull buffy; sides buffy, obscurely streaked with blackish; rest 

 of under surface dull white; legs flesh-color; feet yellow; nails black. Natal 

 plumage: "Prevailing color bright tawny fulvous, paler beneath, the abdomen 

 nearly white; occiput and nape with a distinct median streak of black, on the 

 former branching laterally into two narrower, somewhat zig-zag lines; lower 

 back and rump with three broad black stripes; flanks with a black spot, and 

 caudal region crossed by a wide subterminal bar of same ' ' (Baird, Brewer and 

 Eidgway, 1884, I, p. 336). 



Masks foe field identification — Moderate size, slender neck, long needle- 

 like bill (fig. 59), and white upper tail coverts; no spotting, streaking or 

 barring on under surface, no white on back, and no white bar or patch on 

 wing. The other two Phalaropes have white on back, and white bar or patch 

 on wing. An inland species rarely if ever found along the seacoast. 



Voice — A nasal oit, oit, oit (W. P. Taylor, 1912, p. 359), or soft trumpeting 

 yiia, yna (Chapman, in Porbush, 1912, p. 229). 



Nest — In marshy or grassy land at varying distances from water; a small 

 aggregation of grass or sedge with a slight depression in the center, or else 

 merely a slight depression in the surface of the ground with a sparse lining 

 of grass blades. 



Eggs — 3 to 4, pear-shaped, measuring in inches, 1.25 to 1.33 by 0.92 to 

 0.94 (in millimeters, 31.7 to 33.7 by 23.4 to 23.8), and averaging 1.28 by 0.93 

 (32.6 by 23.6) (two sets, seven eggs, from Nevada and Colorado) ; ground- 

 color light buff to very light drab; superficial markings dark brown or brownish 

 black, deep ones pale olive or light brown; markings chiefly spots, the larger 

 ones aggregated about larger end of egg, smaller ones profusely sprinkled 

 over whole surface. 



General distribution — North and South America. Breeds from northern 

 Washington (and probably southern British Columbia), central Alberta, central 

 Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, east to northwestern Indiana (and 

 probably eastern Wisconsin), and south to central Iowa, southern Kansas, 

 southern Colorado, and northeastern California. In fall migration reaches the 

 Atlantic coast casually from Maine to New Jersey, and Pacific coast from 

 southern British Columbia to Lower California. Winters in South America 

 from central Chile and central Argentina south to the Falkland Islands (A. O. 

 U. Cheek-list, 1910, p. 108). 



