210 WADING BIRDS. 



vicinity, that nine or ten individuals were killed out of it at a 

 single shot ; these were nearly all old birds, and on being 

 eaten proved quite palatable. Mr. Audubon informs me that 

 in the month of May last (1833), he met with flocks of these 

 Phalaropes about four miles out at sea off the Magdalen 

 Islands, where they are known to the fishermen by the name of 

 " Sea Geese," appearing more or less every year. At this time 

 they were in very dense flocks of about one hundred together, 

 so close as nearly or wholly to touch each other. On being 

 approached they were very shy and wild, and as they rose to 

 fly, in the manner of the Sandpipers, uttered a faint, clear cry 

 of ^twee Uweet. Like Tringas, too, they alight on the shore or 

 the ground, and run with agility. They also at times settle on 

 .the driftweed and Fuel in order to glean up any insects which 

 may occur. They squat on the ground like Snipes. 



It is remarkable enough that all these flocks consisted of 

 birds of both sexes assembhng to breed and in imperfect 

 plumage. In none were the sides and front of the neck 

 wholly red. They had a broad patch of red below the ears, 

 not extending in front, and the blackish gray feathers of the 

 back and scapulars were edged, in the latter, nearly round 

 with pale dull rufous. The females were paler in all parts, 

 the scapulars merely edged with whitish rufous. The brightest 

 of these birds answers to Temminck's description of the 

 female of the species, while Bonaparte asserts that the fe- 

 males are always much brighter or redder than the males in 

 their most complete plumage. We have, therefore, the follow- 

 ing distinct stages of appearance in this species : The young of 

 the year ; the young of the second year, differing in the 

 appearance of the sexes ; the adults of both sexes (probably 

 not then wholly alike) ; and finally the gray livery of winter ^ 

 distributed according to the variations in the preceding plumage. 

 We shall then have, at this rate, six or seven different states of 

 plumage to this single species of Phalarope. 



This species breeds in the Far North, and is met with off our 

 coasts as the flocks journey to and from their winter quarters in 

 the tropics. 



