270 



CALIFORNIA BIRD STUDIES 



witli them. As, with several members of our American 

 Ornithologists' Union party, I approached its margin, I 

 was not a little astonished to observe that apparently one- 

 half of the Phalaropes in it were spinning about in the most 

 remarkable manner. They might have been automatic 

 teetotums. 



Northern Plialarope Swimming 

 Note the feeding-place, just abandoned, at the left 



The sight of this singular action aroused vague mem- 

 ories of a description of it as a courtship ceremonial. It 

 will be remembered that marital relations among the Phala- 

 ropes are somewhat unusual. Not only is the female larger 

 and more brightly colored than the male, but she is the male 

 in all but the prime essentials of sex. She woos, selects the 

 nesting site, and, while of necessity she lays the eggs, the 

 male, unaided, hatches them and rears the resulting family. 



These facts suggest that a careful study of the mating 

 habits of Phalaropes will throw much needed light on the 

 problem of sexual selection, and, exulting at the possibilities 

 of the situation, I concealed myself in an overhanging limb 

 which swept the water. The nearest l)irds were now within 

 ten feet. The larger size and brighter plumage of the 

 females was strikingly noticeable and no difficulty would 

 therefore be experienced in determining the part in the per- 

 formance taken by both sexes. 



At once the alleged foi-wardness of the female was dis- 



