Color Key to North American Birds Part 26

[Ill.u.s.tration: 216.]

=216. Little Black Rail= (_Porzana jamaicensis_): L. 5; B. 6. _Ads._ Head, breast, and belly slate; back blackish brown barred with white; nape reddish brown. _Notes._ Probably, _kik-kik-kik_, _quee'ah_, or _kik-ki-ki-ki_, _ki_, _quee'ah_, or variants. (Brewster.)

Range.--"Temperate North America north to Ma.s.sachusetts, northern Illinois, and Oregon: south to West Indies and Guatemala." (A.O.U.) Probably breeds throughout its North American range (Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas).

Gallinules and Coot

[Ill.u.s.tration: 218.]

=218. Purple Gallinule= (_Ionornis martinica_). L. 13. _Ads._ Crown-plate bluish, bill carmine tipped with greenish; back s.h.i.+ning green; below purplish blue; under tail-coverts white. _Yng._ Above browner; below with white; no red on bill.

Range.--Tropical and subtropical America; breeds only in eastern North America north to southern Illinois and South Carolina, strays to Maine and Wisconsin; winters from southern Florida south to South America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 219.]

=219. Florida Gallinule= (_Gallinula galeata_). L. 13.5. _Ad._ Crown-plate red, bill red tipped with greenish; legs green with a red ring; back olive-brown; flanks slate _streaked with white_. _Yng._ Crown-plate smaller with bill brownish; no red on legs; below grayish.

_Notes._ An explosive _chuck_ and many loud and varied calls suggesting a disturbed brooding hen, the squawking of a struggling hen, etc.

Range.--Temperate and tropical America; breeds locally north to Maine, Montreal, Minnesota, and northern California; winters from Gulf States and California southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 221.]

=221. American Coot= (_Fulica americana_). L. 15. Toes with scallops.

_Ads._ Bill whitish; crown-plate and two spots on bill brownish; head and neck black; rest of plumage slate. _Yng._ Whiter below, browner above, crown-plate smaller. _Notes._ An explosive _cuck_ and noisy cackling notes.

Range.--North America; breeds in the interior (chiefly northward) north to the Mackenzie and on Pacific coast to British Columbia; winters from British Columbia and Gulf States south to Central America and West Indies.

Order IX. Sh.o.r.e BIRDS.

LIMICOL?.

Family 1. PHALAROPES. Phalaropodidae. 3 species.

Family 2. AVOCETS AND STILTS. Recurvirostridae. 2 species.

Family 3. SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. Scolopacidae. 33 species, 2 subspecies.

Family 4. PLOVERS. Charadriidae. 9 species, 2 subspecies.

Family 5. SURF BIRDS AND TURNSTONES. Aphrizidae. 4 species.

Family 6. OYSTER-CATCHERS. Haematopodidae. 3 species.

Family 7. JACANAS. Jacanidae. 1 species.

The Phalaropes are swimming Snipes. The Northern and Red Phalaropes, both of which have well-developed lobes or scalloped webs on their toes, except when nesting, live at sea a hundred miles or more off sh.o.r.e, where they find an abundance of food in small forms of marine life. The Wilson Phalarope is a bird of the interior and consequently, is far less aquatic than the remaining species of the family; nevertheless it readily takes to water, swimming buoyantly and gracefully.

Contrary to the general rule, the female Phalarope is larger and more brightly colored than the male and this difference in size and plumage is accompanied by similarly unusual habits; the female taking the place of the male in the Phalarope household. The female of necessity lays the eggs, but they are hatched by the male alone, who it is said, cares for the young, also without the a.s.sistance of his mate.

The Avocets and Stilts are wading Snipes. The Stilts secure their food by quick thrusts of the bill, but the Avocets use their singular, upturned member in a more interesting manner. When in water two or three inches deep, the bill is dropped below the surface, until the curved lower mandible evidently touches the bottom; then walking rapidly, or even running, the bill is swung from side to side and the bird thus explores the mud in its search for food, which, when it is felt, is picked up in the usual way.

Many of the members of the family Scolopacidae are probing Snipe. The Woodc.o.c.k, Wilson Snipe, and Dowitcher are good examples. Their bill is long and sensitive and they can curve or move its tip without opening it at the base. When the bill is thrust into the mud the tip may therefore grasp a worm and it thus becomes a finger as well as a probe.

Though not ranked as song birds, many of the Snipes and Plovers have pleasing calls and whistles and in the breeding season they become highly musical or indulge in singular vocal performances.

The song of the Bartramian Sandpiper would attract the attention of the least observant and the singular aerial evolutions of the Snipe and Woodc.o.c.k lend an unusual interest to the study of these birds in the spring. The Pectoral Sandpiper was observed by Nelson in Alaska, in May, to fill its ?sophagus with air dilating the skin of the neck and breast and forming a sack as large as the body. Then in the air or on the ground the bird produced a series of hollow booming notes, const.i.tuting its love song.

The Plovers have shorter, harder bills than the true Snipe and several of our species frequent the uplands rather than muddy sh.o.r.e or tidal flats.

The Turnstones are true sh.o.r.e birds. Their home with us is on the seacoast where they feed along the beach turning over sh.e.l.ls and pebbles in their search for food.

The Oyster-catchers are also strictly maritime. They frequent bars left bare by the tide and, it is said, use their stout bills to force open mussels; oysters, or other bivalves left exposed by the water.

This belief, however, does not appear to rest on careful, definite observation.

The Jacana belongs to a small family of birds with representatives throughout the tropics. All its members are remarkable for the length of their toes, the wide extent of which enable these birds to walk over aquatic vegetation. So, for instance, I have seen them running over small lily leaves which, sinking slightly beneath the surface, made the birds appear to be walking on the water.

The Limicolae, as a rule, nest on the ground. The Phalaropes, Snipes, and Plovers lay four eggs, the Oyster-catcher three, the Jacanas, it is said, four in some species to ten in others. The eggs of all are proportionately large and pointed or pear-shaped and are usually thickly marked with dark spots. The young are born covered with down and leave the nest just after hatching.

Sh.o.r.e Birds

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Foot of Phalarope 1/2 Size_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 222.]

=222. Red Phalarope= (_Crymophilus fulicarius_). L. 8.10; B. 9. Bill heavy, wider than deep. _Ad._ [Female]. Below entirely reddish brown; cap black, back black and buff. _Ad._ [Male]. Similar, but smaller; crown and back streaked with brown, black, and buff. _Yng._ Resemble [Male], but upper tail-coverts plumbeous, underparts _white_.

_Winter._ _Crown_ and underparts white, hindneck black, back gray.

_Notes._ A musical _clink_, _clink_. (Nelson.)

Range.--"Northern parts of northern hemisphere, breeding in the Arctic regions and migrating south in winter; in the United States south to the Middle States. Ohio Valley, and Cape St. Lucas; chiefly maritime."

(A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 223.]

=223. Northern Phalarope= (_Phalaropus lobatus_). L. 7.7; B. .8. Bill short, slender, sharply pointed. _Ad._ [Female]. Breast rufous; above slaty gray mixed with ochraceous on back. _Ad._ [Male]. Smaller, less rufous; on throat; above blackish streaked with rusty. _Yng._ Underparts and _forehead_ white; crown sooty; back blackish streaked with straw-color. _Winter._ Upperparts gray mixed with white; underparts white. _Notes._ A low chippering, clicking note.

Range.--Northern hemisphere; breeds from Labrador and northern British America north to Greenland and Alaska; winters apparently south of United States where it is known as a migrant chiefly off the coasts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 224.]

=224. Wilson Phalarope= (_Steganopus tricolor_). L. 9.5; B. 1.3. Bill long. _Ad._ [Female]. Sides of neck black and chestnut; crown and back gray. _Ad._ [Male]. Smaller; chestnut and black much less and duller; crown and back blackish, latter sometimes with rufous. _Yng._ Below white; crown and back black margined with ochraceous; nape brownish gray. _Winter._ Above gray, upper tail-coverts white; below white.

_Notes._ A soft, trumpet _yna_, _yna_.