1481. Phalaropus fulicarius.
The Grey Phalarope.
Tringa fulicaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 249 (1766). Phalaropus lobatus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 3; Blyth, Ibis, 1859, p. 464 ; nec Tringa lobata, Linn. Phalaropus fulicarius, Blyth, Cat. p. 271 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxiii, p. 214 ; xxviii, p. 417; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 695; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 487; id. Cat. no. 889 ; Seebohm, Charadr. p. 338. Crymophilus fulicarius, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 693.
Coloration in winter. Forehead, supercilia, lores, cheeks, sides of neck, and lower parts white ; crown chiefly white, but mixed with blackish; a blackish streak, including the eye, continued back over the ear-coverts ; nape and hind neck blackish ; back, scapulars, and tertiaries ashy grey; wing-coverts and quills blackish grey, more or less white-edged ; greater secondary-coverts broadly tipped with white; bases of later primaries and of secondaries and greater part of inner secondaries white; middle of rump and upper tail-coverts and all tail-feathers black, with white or buff edges.
Females in summer have the crown, lores, and nape black ; a large patch on each side of the head, including the orbit and ear-coverts, white; feathers of back, scapulars, and tertiaries black, with broad buff edges ; lower parts and sides of body dark vinous chestnut; chin dusky grey. In males the crown is like the back, and there is much white on the throat and breast.
Bill in summer yellowish, black at the tip, in winter dark olive throughout; irides dark brown; legs and feet dull olive (Dresser).
Length of male 7.5; tail 2.6 ; wing 5; tarsus .85; culmen .85. Females are larger; wing 5.4. Bill flat and rather wide, much broader than tarsus.
Distribution. The Grey Phalarope breeds in high northern latitudes all round the Pole, and ranges south in winter even to Chili and New Zealand. It has once been obtained by Blyth, on May 11th, 1846, in the Calcutta Bazaar; no other occurrence in India is known. Hume thought he obtained this species between Gwadar and Muscat, and as the specimen was mislaid, he was unable to re-examine it (S. F. vii, p. 487) ; but his dimensions show that the bird obtained by him could not be P. fulicarius, and the skin has now been found in his collection, and proves to be that of P. hyperboreus.
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