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223. Northern Phalarope. Lobipes lobatus. L, 7*75. Adult female (Figure 155c) : 
above very dark grey, almost black, including head and face, and extending almost across 
the breast. Below and a sharply defined throat patch, white. Sides of neck, brick red and 
a line of reddish ochre down back over each wing. Male (Figure 155b) : similar, but colours 
less pure and pattern less definite. Autumn birds (Figure 155a) largely white. Adult: 
back, striped grey and white. Juvenile: sooty and ochre. Both — with white throat and 
face and dark cap, and bar through eye black. 
Northern Phalarope; natural size, 
a, winter; b, summer male, 
c, summer female; d, bill, from above. 
Distinction a. Colours as above are quite 
distinctive. The smallest of the Phalaropes. 
Bill fine and awl-like (Figure 155d), similar 
to that of Wilson’s, but shorter, and quite 
different from the broad bill of the Red 
Phalarope. Toes with scalloped half-webs, 
like the Red (See Figure 154d), not a narrow, 
even border, with slight webs, as in Wilson’s 
(compare Figure 156). 
Field Marks. Swimming habits and 
whirligig action as a Phalarope. Small size. 
Distinguished from the Red Phalarope in 
spring by white throat and underparts, and 
in autumn by dark line through eye and 
white superciliary line. When the colours 
are not very evident, probably difficult to 
separate in life from Wilson’s except by 
smaller size. 
Distribution. Northern and southern 
hemispheres. In America, breeds on the 
Arctic mainland and islands across the continent. Migrates down both seacoasts and 
through the prairie interior. Common in the interior of British Columbia. Not quite 
such a maritime bird as the preceding species, but more so than the following. 
224. Wilson’s Phalarope. grunter. Steganopus tricolor. L, 8*75. Plate XVI B. 
Adults as shown on plate. Young birds similar to the spring male but paler and striped 
with reddish ochre above. Winter adults are plain greyish above 
and white below, with no pronounced dark on head. Many birds 
begin to assume this dress before they leave Canada in the 
autumn. 
Distinctions. About the same size as the Red Phalarope, 
but with a much longer awl-shaped bill. Considerably larger 
than the Northern and with longer bill. Toes scarcely webbed 
but margined with a narrow border, not scalloped as in the two 
preceding species (Figure 156, compare with 154d). 
Field Marks. Swimming habit and whirligig action as a 
Phalarope. Because of interior range, likely to be confused 
with Northern Phalarope only. Much larger size and character- 
istic coloration in spring. In autumn, size is probably the best 
means of separation. 
Nesting. On the grass in damp places near sloughs. 
Distribution. The prairie regions, southward. Nesting 
wherever regularly found in Canada. Only two records for 
British Columbia. 
One of the commonest as well as one of the 
loveliest of the inhabitants of the prairie sloughs. It 
loves the little sunny mud-bottomed pools of shallow 
water in the meadow. While the males, in grass- 
shaded nests, are performing the duties of incubation, 
the females, in little friendly parties, disport them- 
selves with exquisite grace on nearby open water. 
They swim about like blown thistle-down, their white bodies riding high, 
breaking up the smooth surface into innumerable interlacing lines of 
Foot of Wilson's Phala- 
rope; natural size. 
