PHALAROPODIDzE — THE PHALAROPES — STEGANOPUS. 
339 
deep water, and being obliged to fly, and seemed to prefer flying to swimming. They 
were not heard to utter a note. In their stomachs small worms and fragments of 
very delicate shells were found. The birds seen at the Rapids of the Ohio flew in 
the manner of the Common Snipe, proceeding at first in an undulating or zigzag line, 
but more steadily after reaching a certain elevation. 
Mr. Salvin found in the collection of Don Vincente Constancia a specimen of this 
Phalarope which had been obtained near the City of Guatemala, and Swainson states 
that it is not uncommon on the' borders of the lakes adjoining the City of Mexico, 
from whence he received specimens of both adult and young. Mr. Dresser mentions 
that in September, in travelling from Brownville to San Antonio, he saw what he 
had no doubt was a bird of this species, and on the 4th of July, 1864, he shot a pair 
on some flooded land near San Antonio. Mr. J. A. Allen found these birds abun- 
dant in the Valley of Great Salt Lake, and they continued so into September. He 
considers this one of the most characteristic species of that region, where it is a sum- 
mer resident, breeding in great numbers on the islands and shores of Salt Lake. Mr. 
Ridgway met with the Wilson Phalarope in May at Pyramid Lake in Nevada, and 
again saw it in June in the ponds near the River Jordan in Utah. It has been 
noticed in September on the Colorado River ; and Dr. Cooper thence infers that this 
may be the species observed by him during the summer among the lakes of the Cas- 
cade Range. This species has been observed about the Upper Missouri in the breed- 
ing season, and on the Arkansas River between Forts Larned and Lyons. It has also 
been met with in the summer in various parts of Minnesota and Dakota. 
Richardson states that this Phalarope breeds on the Saskatchewan Plains ; but it 
was not met with by him beyond the 55tli parallel, nor were any seen on the coast 
of Hudson’s Bay. He adds that this bird lays two or three eggs among the grass 
on the margins of small lakes. The eggs are very obtuse at one end and taper 
much at the other, and have a ground-color intermediate between yellowish gray and 
cream-yellow, interspersed with roundish spots and a few larger blotches of umber 
brown, most crowded at the obtuse end. The eggs measured 1.37 inches in length by 
.94 of an inch in breadth. 
Specimens of this Phalarope were shot by Mr. William Brewster at Rye Beach in 
the summer of 1872. Giraud mentions it as of occasional occurrence at Egg Harbor, 
New Jersey, as well as on Long Island. 
The eggs of this species are pyriform in shape, the ground varying from a light 
fawn-colored drab to a deep rufous drab. The spots are of a dark bistre, of a varying 
intensity, and very generally distributed. The specimens in the Smithsonian Col- 
lection were procured from different points in Iowa, from Utah and Northern Illi- 
nois. My own are from Northern Illinois and from Minnesota. Mr. Kennicott found 
it breeding in the Calumet marshes in Illinois, near Lake Michigan. Mr. B. F. Goss, 
who procured the eggs from Minnesota, writes me that it breeds quite commonly on 
marshes, and generally near water. The nest is almost always on hummocks, quite 
deeply excavated, and lined with dry grasses. One was found on a platform raised 
above the shallow water. 
