AET. 10 BIRDS OF PINCHOT EXPEDITION FISHER AND WETMORE 41 



The specimens collected of the wandering tattler, semiplanted 

 plover, and this species were found feeding on the bare flats at low 

 ebb at Wafer Bay. 



HIMANTOPUS MEXICANUS (Muller) 



Black-necked stilt 



Charadrius mexicanus Mxjller, Natursyst. Suppl., 1776, p. 117. (Mexico.) 

 A black-necked stilt, with its young, was seen on a beach on Inde- 

 fatigable Island June 17-20. 



PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS (Linnaeus) 



Red phalarope 



Tringa fulicaria Linnakus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 148. (Hudson 

 Bay.) 



A female molting from nuptial to first fall plumage taken at 

 Narborough Island August 25, 1929, is apparently the first record 

 of the species for the Galapagos. According to Bent,-^ the fall mi- 

 gration of the red phalarope begins off the coast of California in 

 July or early August, so that the date of taking of the present speci- 

 men would seem to be usual. 



When we were sailing between Albemarle and Narborough Islands 

 the water was very smooth, and among other things we saw large 

 numbers of phalaropes for the first and only time. Mr. Cleaves esti- 

 mated that the total was not far from 2,000. Later in the day while 

 we were in the launch, one of these birds was secured, and identifi- 

 cation made sure. 



LARUS FULIGINOSUS Gould 



Sooty gull 



Laws fnliginosus Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle, pt. 3, Birds, March, 1841, p. 141. 

 (James Island, Galapagos Archipelago.) 



A male was secured at Tower Island June 14, 1929. 



This gull was seen at every island we visited in the Galapagos 

 group. It was common, associated with the fork-tailed gull, along 

 the rocky ledges, it was grouped in numbers on the sandy beaches, 

 and it often visited the vessel, especially when food refuse was be- 

 ing thrown overboard. At Tower Island two or three dozen congre- 

 gated on the beach where a manta was being dissected, and fed with 

 great relish on the discarded scraps. 



The general appearance of this species, together with its manner 

 of flight, its close grouping on the beaches when at rest, and method 

 of feeding, continually brings to mind Heermann's gull, which it 



" U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 142, 1927, p. 13. 



