PHALAROPES 
85 
scalloped ; wing with white bar in all plumages. Male in breeding plu¬ 
mage: upper parts dark plumbeous, striped on back with 
buff and black; sides of neck rufous; chest gray; upper 
throat and belly white. Female in breeding plumage: brighter 
colored, rufous extending across throat as well as on sides of 
neck. Fall and winter plumage: face, line over eye, and 
under parts white ; line under eye, and back of head, dusky; 
upper parts mainly gray. Young: like winter adults, but 
upper parts darker, striped with buff and black. Length: 7-8, wing 4.00- 
4.45, bill .80-.90. 
Distribution. — Northern part of northern hemisphere; in America, 
breeding from Alaska to Labrador and Greenland ; south in winter to 
Guatemala. 
Nest. — A slight depression in the ground near water ; lined with 
leaves and grass. Eggs : 4, buffy or olive, irregularly spotted with dark 
browns. 
Fig. 100. 
Northern 
Phalarope. 
GENUS STEGANOPUS. 
224. Steganopus tricolor Vieill. Wilson Phalarope. 
Bill slender, longer than head ; toes with straight-edged marginal mem¬ 
branes ; wing without white bar; female larger and handsomer than male. 
Male in breeding plumage: crown and upper parts dusky, touched with 
brown ; sides of neck with a chestnut stripe ; throat and chest buffy ; 
stripe over eye, chin, and belly white. Female in breeding plumage : crown 
and back bluish gray ; black stripe along sides of head and neck shading 
into rich chestnut along lower neck and shoulders ; chest and lower part of 
throat delicate cinnamon buff; upper part of throat, belly, and line over 
eye white. Adults in winter plumage : upper parts plain gray, chest and 
sides of breast grayish ; rest of under parts white. Young: upper parts 
dusky, streaked with light cinnamon ; under parts white, with tinge of 
cinnamon across breast. Female: length 9.40-10.00, wing 5.20-5.30, bill 
1.30-1.35, tarsus 1.30-1.35. Male: length 8.25-9.00, wing 4.75-4.80, bill 
1.25, tarsus 1.20-1.25. 
Distribution. — From British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Quebec; 
south in winter to Brazil and Patagonia; breeding from Illinois, Colorado, 
and Kansas northward, mainly in the interior. 
Nest. — On ground, in slight excavation ; lined with grass. Eggs: 3 or 
4, creamy, buff or drab, spotted with dark brown. 
There is not among all our waders a more dainty, exquisitely 
colored bird than the Wilson phalarope, with its warm, richly blended 
tints, trim form, and soft plumage. You find it in small flocks, 
swimming on the ponds like tiny ducks, or sandpiper-like picking 
about on the muddy shores. Should you enter its marshy breeding 
grounds it will fly anxiously about your head with a low ‘ croaking ’ 
note, threatening and coaxing to get you away from its nest and 
young. 
Like the other phalaropes the female is larger and brighter colored 
than the male and is said to leave most of the incubation and care of 
the young to her more protectively colored mate. 
Vernon Bailey. 
