2 BULLETIN 1359, U. S". DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
smallest shorebirds, is of importance economically in that it destroys 
many of the larval forms of mosquitoes, thus aiding in keeping these 
pests in check. The red phalarope within our limits is most abundant 
on the oceans off our snores and so does not often come in direct 
contact with injurious insects. The Wilson phalarope is the one 
most frequently found near cultivated districts and is perhaps better 
known than the other two. It does considerable good in destroying 
mosquitoes and also consumes many of the larvse of horseflies. 
Adult horseflies are often the greatest of pests in districts adjoining 
marshes. No injurious traits are recorded against any of the three 
phalaropes; their food, save as indicated, consists of insects, crus- 
taceans, or other animals which are of neutral economic significance. 
The stilt may be commended for its evident taste for biBbugs and 
other weevils, as well as crawfish and giant water bugs, all of which 
are destructive. Though it may eat a few small fishes, the forms 
taken are not of value for human food. The avocet shares with the 
stilt a taste for weevils, including forms that are injurious. It takes 
much more vegetable food than any of the other birds treated in this 
bulletin. Like the phalaropes, the stilt and the avocet have no 
marked injurious traits. 
Because of their specialized habits, the Wilson phalarope, the 
avocet, and the stilt have suffered a considerable reduction in num- 
bers from man's encroachment upon their haunts. The draining of 
swamps and marshes has decreased the areas available to them as 
breeding and feeding grounds, and many have been destroyed by 
gunners. With the well-merited protection accorded them at present, 
these birds may be expected to jiold their own or even to increase 
wherever they meet especially favorable conditions ; it is even possible 
that they may repopulate some of the areas from which they have 
been absent for many years. 
RED PHALAROPE 
Phalaropus fulicarius 
The red phalarope, circumpolar in distribution during the summer 
season, in the Western Hemisphere breeds from northern Alaska and 
northern Ellesmere Land south to the mouth of the Yukon and 
southern Greenland. The winter range can not be traced with any 
degree of certainty, but at this season the birds are known to pass 
south well over the southern half of the globe. Except during the 
breeding season, the red phalarope is maritime in range, though strag- 
glers are taken casually in the interior. The writer has examined in 
the flesh one collected in eastern Kansas, and others are recorded from 
Colorado, Illinois, and Maryland. 
During migration, flocks of red phalaropes occasionally come to 
brackish lagoons or fresh-water ponds near the seashore, or run along 
sand beaches in company with other shorebirds. More usual haunts 
are broad salt-water bays or the open ocean, so that the present 
species is less commonly observed than the other phalaropes. Ocean 
expanses have no terrors for the red phalarope, and at times flocks 
are found several hundred miles from shore. In the breeding plumage 
the red phalarope is handsomely marked with dull cinnamon-brown 
beneath, whereas in winter the plumage of the lower parts is pure 
white. In the latter condition care must be taken not to confuse it 
with the northern phalarope. 
