296 LOBIPES HYPERBOREUS. 



my son John shot several out of flocks of sixty or more. At 

 one time a flock consisting of more than a hundred was seen 

 in the Bay of Fundy. They were exceedingly shy ; and the 

 gunuers of Eastport, who knew them under the name of 

 Sea Geese, spoke of them as very curious birds. 



" They procure their food principally upon the water, on 

 which they alight like Ducks, float as light as Gulls, and 

 move about in search of food with much nimbleness. The 

 sight of a bank of floating sea- weeds or garbage of any kind, 

 induces them at once to alight upon it, when they walk 

 about as unconcernedly as if on land. Their notes, which 

 resemble the syllables tweet, tweet, tweet, are sharp and clear; 

 and in their flight they resemble our common American 

 Snipe. At the approach of an enemy they immediately close 

 their ranks, until they almost touch each other, when great 

 havoc is made among them ; but if not immediately shot at, 

 they rise all at once and fly swiftly off, emitting their shrill 

 cries, and remove to a great distance. These Phalaropes 

 congregate in this manner for the purpose of moving north- 

 wards to their breeding grounds ; although some remain and 

 breed as far south as Mount Desert Island. I have met with 

 them in equally large flocks at a distance of more than a 

 hundred miles from the shores. They were feeding on great 

 beds of floating sea-weeds, and in several instances some Red 

 Phalaropes were seen in their company. 



" Whilst in Labrador I observed that the Hyberborean 

 Phalarope occurred only in small parties of a few pairs, and 

 that instead of keeping at sea or on the salt-water bays, 

 they were always in the immediate vicinity of small fresh- 

 water lakes or ponds, near which they bred. The nest was 

 a hollow scooped out among the herbage, and covered with a 

 few bits of dried grass and moss. The eggs are always four ; 

 they measure at an average an inch and three-sixteenths in 

 length, seven-eighths in their greatest diameter ; are rather 

 pointed at the smaller end, and are more uniform in their 

 size and markings than those of most water birds. The 

 ground colour is a deep dull buff, and is irregularly marked 

 with large and small blotches of dark reddish-brown, which 

 are larger and more abundant at the crown. The birds 



