PH A LA ROPES 
213 
224. Wilson’s Phalarope. grunter. le phalarope de wilson. Steganopus 
tricolor. L, 8-75. Plate XXVI 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 those species 
(Figure 308, compare with 306d). 
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 
anti characteristic 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. 
Figure 307 
Wilson’s Phalarope; 
about natural size. 
Male Female 
Figure 308 
Foot ofWilson’s Phala- 
rope; natural size. 
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 themselves with exquisite grace on nearby open water. They 
swim about like blown thistle-down, their white bodies riding high break- 
ing up the smooth surface into innumerable interlacing lines of silvery 
ripples. They pause here and there and whirl about in little circles as the 
black water-beetles do, stirring up the mud with their delicate little feet 
and bringing to the surface a harvest of tid-bits which they seize with 
quick passes of their rapier-like bill. Anon they disperse to repeat the 
pretty performance a little farther on. A flock of phalaropes so feeding 
forms the brightest, most graceful scene imaginable. It is calumny to call 
their low monosyllabic voice a “grunt”, yet it is the origin of one of their 
local names. 
