SHORE BIRDS. Order IX. LIMICOLA 
PHALAROPES. Family PHALAROPODIDAE 
Phalaropes are small Plover-like birds, but with lobate webbed feet, similar 
to those of the Grebes and Coots. 
222. Red Phalarope. Phalaropus fulicarius. 
Range. — Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the 
far north, and migrating to the middle portions 
of the United States, chiefly on the coasts. 
The Red Phalarope during the breeding season 
has the underparts wholly reddish brown; they 
are very rarely seen in the United States in this 
dress, however for it is early changed for a suit 
of plain gray and white. 
This species has a much 
stouter bill than the two 
following; it is about nine 
inches in length. All the 
Phalaropes are good swim- 
mers, and this species, es- 
pecially, is often found in 
large flocks off the coast, 
floating on the surface of 
the water; they feed largely upon small marine 
insects. Nests in hollows on the ground, lined 
with a few grasses. The eggs are three or four 
in number, generally of a greenish buff color, 
spotted and blotched with brown and blackish. 
Data. — Myvates, Iceland, June 19, 1897, Collector, 
C. Jefferys. 
Greenish buff: 
223. Northern Phalarope. Lobipes labatus. 
Range. — Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the 
northern parts of the British Provinces. 
This is the smallest of the Phalaropes, being 
about eight inches long; in summer it has a 
chestnut band across the breast and on the side 
of the neck. Its habits and nesting habits vary 
but little from those of the Red Phalarope, al- 
though its distribution is a little more southerly, 
and it is not as exclusively maritime as the pre- 
ceding species. It is found on both coasts of the 
United States, but more common on the Pacific side, 
during the fall and spring, when going to or re- 
turning from its winter quarters in the tropics. 
Their eggs cannot, with certainty, be distinguished 
from the preceding species, 
Red Phalarope. 
Northern Phalarope. 
Greenish buff. 
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