212 
CHARADRIIFORMES 
FAMILY — -PHALAROPODIDAE, PHALAROPES. SEA SNIPES 
General Description . Small birds between 7-75 and 8-75 inches long, wader-like in 
form, but with plumage dense and gull-like. This, combined with their toes, bordered 
with web-lobes or edgings, and flattened tarsi (Figures 306 and 308), makes them com- 
paratively easy to recognize. 
Distinctions. Small waders characterized as above. Cannot be mistaken for any 
other birds. 
Field Marks. Size, and the habit of commonly swimming and feeding in deep water. 
These are the only shore birds that habitually swim. 
Nesting. On the ground, nest lined with a few mosses or grasses. 
Distribution. Northern and western America. One species breeds in the Prairie 
Provinces, the other two along the Arctic coasts and adjoining islands. 
The phalaropes constitute a small, anomalous family of shore birds 
whose true affinities are hardly well understood or settled. They swim 
with ease and are often found in the open water, even out at sea, where 
they are as much at home as any pelagic species. 
Anomalous in structure and systematic relationships, they are equally 
so in habits. The female instead of the male is the bright-coloured mem- 
ber of the family circle, and she takes the initiative in courting rites; makes 
the first advance towards her shy and modestly coloured prospective 
mate; and upon fulfilling her duties of egg deposition, leaves the cares of 
incubation and family-raising largely to him. 
Economic Status. Inhabit water or waste shores and are of little or no 
economic importance. 
222. Red Phalarope. grey-phalarope. whale-bird. le phalarope roux. 
Phalaropus fulicariust L, 8-12. Adult female (Figure 306a) : all below, including breast, 
foreneck, and sides of neck, brown- 
ish red; white cheeks; black cap; 
back striped with black and light 
ochre. Adult male similar, but 
crown streaked and with less white 
on face. In winter, an altogether 
differently coloured bird (Figure 
306b). Adult: mostly white, with 
slate- blue mantle; head white, with 
poorly defined dark spot about eye, 
and stripe down nape. Juvenile: like 
winter plumage of adult, but vague 
dusky breast-band, and all coloured 
parts more or less mixed and striped 
with black and ochre. 
Distinctions. A phalarope with 
solid red underbody in spring. In 
autumn a white one with more or 
less slate- blue on back. In any 
plumage specifically recognizable by 
its broad bill (Figure 306c) and as a 
phalarope by its scalloped-w r ebbed 
toes (Figure 306d). The inner sec- 
ondaries are largely white. 
Field Marks. Swimming habits and whirligig action on the water, as a phalarope. 
Red underparts in spring, large amount of slate-blue on back, and large white area of 
secondaries. It has a short, heavy bill for a phalarope. 
Distribution. Northern anti southern hemispheres. In America breeds along the 
whole Arctic coast and the Arctic islands. Migrates down both coasts of the continent, 
but rare inland. Isolated records from northern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, and 
the interior of the eastern provinces. 
Though a common bird in the far north, the Red Phalarope as it 
goes south is seldom detected on our western waters. It is the most 
maritime of the phalaropes and probably, when it migrates, strikes out to 
sea, rarely coming in to our shores. 
Ited Phalarope; natural size. 
a , summer female; b, juvenile and winter; 
c, bill, from above; d, foot. 
