614 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS — LIMICOLJE. 
some lateral ones white. Wings blackish, the ends of the greater coverts broadly white, form- 
ing a conspicuous cross-bar, continued on some of the inner secondaries. Bill and feet black. 
Length 7-00 ; extent 13.50 ; wing 4.25-4.50 ; tail 2.00 ; bill, tarsus, middle toe and claw, each, 
under 1.00. Varies much in plumage with age and season, but easily recognized by the small 
size and generic characters. Chicks in down rich buff above, silvery-gray below ; crown mixed 
black and yellow a long black stripe down back, another over each hip, one across the rump, 
and a shoulder-spot. N. hemisphere at large, breeding in Arctic regions, migrating into the 
tropics sometimes ; generally distributed, but especially maritime. Eggs 3-4, June, average 
1.20 X 0.80 (from 1.30 X 0.75 to 1.10 X 0.82), very variable in size, shape, and color; greenish- 
olive, brownish-olive to various drab and buffy shades of ground color, usually very boldly 
spotted and splashed sometimes in finer pattern, with bistrous, chocolate, and lighter brown. 
228. PHALA'ROPUS. (Gr. (jidkapoTvovs, phalaropous, coot-foot.) CoOT-FOOT Phalaropes. 
Bill scarcely longer than head or tarsus ; very stout for this family ; much depressed, so broad 
as to be almost spatulate, the tip only moderately acute, lancet-shaped. Upper mandible with 
the ridge broad and flattened, its apex arched and decurved, its lateral grooves wide and shallow, 
luterramal space broad and very long, extending nearly to the end of the bill. Nostrils sub- 
basal, at some distance from the root oi the bill. Wings long and pointed. Tail long, 
rounded, the central rectrices projecting, rather acuminate. Legs and feet much as in Lobipes, 
but the semipalmation of less extent. 
604. P. f ulica'rius. (Lat. fulicarius, coot-like ; fulica, a coot ; fuligo, soot.) Coot-footed 
Tringa. Red Phalarope. Gray Phalarope. Adult ^ ,m summer : Under parts, with 
sides of neck, and upper tail-coverts, dark purplish or wine-red, with a glaucous bloom. Top 
of head and around bill, sooty. Sides of head white, this color meeting on nape. Rump 
white. Back black, all the feathers edged with tawny or rusty-brown. Quills brownish-black, 
with white shafts and much white at bases of webs ; the coverts dark ash, the ends and inner 
webs of the greater row white ; some of the secondaries entirely white. Bill yellowish, with 
dusky tip; feet yellowish. Length 7.50; extent 14.50; wing 5.00; tail 2.50; bill 0.90; 
tarsus 0.75 ; middle toe and claw rather more. Adult ^ 9 ? in winter : Head all around, 
and entire under parts, white, — with a dusky circumocular area and nuchal crescent, and a 
wash of ashy along sides of body. Above, nearly uniform ash. Wings ashy-blackish, the 
white cross-bar very conspicuous ; bill mostly dark ; feet obscured. A species of circumpolar 
distribution in summer, wandering far south in winter, chiefly coastwise. Nesting and eggs not 
distinguishable from those of the last ; eggs averaging larger, — 1.15-1.30 X 0.90-0.95. 
42. Family SCOLOPACID^ : Snipe, etc. 
Snipe and their allies 
form a well-defined and 
perfectly natural assem- 
blage, one of the two 
largest limicoline families, 
agreeing with Plover in 
most essential respects, 
yet well distinguished from 
the pluvialine birds. In 
general, the bill is much 
elongated, frequently sev- 
eral times longer than the 
head, and in those cases 
in which it is as short as 
■ English Suipe. (From Dixon.) in plover, it does not show 
Fig 430. 
Fig. 431. — Wilson's Snipe. 
Tenney, after Wilson.) 
(From 
