DNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTi 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1359 
Washington, D. C. ▼ October, 1925 
FOOD OF AMERICAN PHALAROPES, AVOCETS, AND STILTS 1 
By Alexander Wetmore, Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution, formerly 
Assistant Biologist, Division of Food Habits Research, Bureau of Biological 
Survey 2 
Page 
General description 1 
Red phalarope 2 
Northern phalarope 4 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Wilson phalarope. 
Avocet 12 
Black-necked stilt 16 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
The five species of shorebirds of which the economic status is dis- 
cussed in the following pages are forms that have become specialized 
for life under certain conditions, and on the whole are not of common 
occurrence, save in the particular marshes or on the large bodies of 
fresh or salt water which form their haunts. They are thus unknown 
to many persons familiar with bird life in more thickly populated 
districts. All are at present fully protected by law and because of 
their commendable food habits the^e can be no question of the in- 
advisability of any attempt to establish an open season for any of 
them. The phalaropes — small, close-feathered, snipelike birds that 
swim on the water like tiny ducks — are too slight in body to be killed 
for their flesh: avocets and stilts, though larger, do not produce meat 
of a quality suitable for table use. All these birds are tame and 
fearless, so that the e is little sport in hunting them. In addition to 
possessing habits of the greatest hrte-est, it is found that the phal- 
aropes , avocets, and stilts have a certain economic importance. 
The family of phalaropes includes three species, all of which occur 
within the United States. The northern and red phalaropes are 
practically world-wide in their distribution, but the Wilson phalarope 
is restricted to the Western Hemisphere. The two cosmopolitan 
species are boreal in occurrence during the breeding season and do 
not often come in close contact with man, except in migration. The 
northern phalarope, a species that in point of size ranks among our 
i This bulletin presents a detailed study of the food and feeding habits of the phalaropes, avocets, and 
stilts that occur in the United States, showing the economic status of the five species, for the information 
of conservationists, sportsmen, and others interested in our shorebirds. 
2 This report was prepared while the author was on the staff of the Biolojical Survey from which he 
resigned on November 19, 1924. 
52519— 25f 1 
