HYPERBOREAN PHALAROPE. 241 



frequent the sea coast previous to their departure, which 

 takes place often soon after the middle of August, on the 

 16th or 17th of which they are occasionally killed in differ- 

 ent parts of Massachusetts Bay, and near Newport in Rhode 

 Island. They likewise probably pay a transient visit to the 

 coast of New Jersey, as they do also, at times, to Long 

 Island, and finally repair to the mild shores of the Mexi- 

 can Gulf, beina seen in the markets of Mexico and Vera 

 Cruz. Migrating probably by sea and outside of the land, 

 they but rarely visit the coast in any part of the United 

 States. Though straggling families of the old and young 

 are met with in this vicinity, nearly every year, about the 

 beginning of May and the middle of August, commonly in 

 salt water pools near the sea, and, as usual, they are seen 

 perpetually dipping their bills into the water ; or with a re- 

 clined neck swimming and turning about in their favorite 

 element, with all the ease and grace of a diminutive swan. 

 In Iceland, the Hyperborean Phalarope arrives about the 

 middle of May, and waiting the complete thav.ing of the 

 ice, they are seen, for a time, assembled in flocks out at sea, 

 several miles from the shore. This gregarious association 

 breaks up early in June, when seceding pairs retire to breed 

 by the mountain ponds. They are very faithful to their 

 mates, and jealous of intrusion from strangers of the same 

 species, on which occasions the males fight with obstinacy, 

 running to and fro upon the water, at the time even when 

 the females are engaged in incubation. Yv'hen the young 

 are exposed to any danger, the parents are heard to express 

 their alarm, by a repeated 'prip, 'prip. At the commence- 

 ment of August, as in the glacial regions of America, the 

 whole retire to the open sea, previous to their migration to 

 the south, and by the end of that month they are no longer 

 to be found in that island. 

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