THE NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 705 



that enticing land. The Indians claim that the hirds nest along our own west 

 shore, and the appearance of chance specimens in June is certainly a little puz- 

 zling, but we should sooner belie\'e that such are mere wayfarers who have for 

 some reason dropped out of the marching ranks of the Alaskan pilgrims. 



By late July the Northern Phalaropes are back again in sc|uads and 

 platoons, feeding in the oil-slicks, which announce the presence of marine 

 crustaceans, or else flitting up and down the Straits in care-free companies. On 

 the 2nd of September, 1908, our boat, the Princess Victoria, encountered great 

 numbers of these birds in the passage from Port Townsend to \'ictoria. The 

 day had been foggy ; the sea was barely ruffled ; and as we plowed our way 

 along, no\\- trios and now scores of Phalaropes rose from our bows and settled 

 again at no great distance. In alighting they almost invariably chose an oil- 

 slick, or else the calm area surrounding a clump of drift-wood. Now and 

 again we would pass alongside of such parties, well placed, and they would go 

 on with their meal uninterruptedly. These birds exhibit a nervous energy — 

 perhaps we should say a daint}- greediness in snatching their food from the 

 water. Like all Phalaropes these feed with an alert dabbing motion, swinging 

 rapidlv from side to side, and turning at times so completelv around that one 

 suspects the bird must profit by the backward glance. 



How these zealous gleaners have behaved themselves while in Alaska, we 

 shall let Air. Nelson tell us: "The female of this bird, as is the case with the 

 two allied species, is much more richly colored than the male and possesses all 

 the rights demanded by the most radical reformers. 



"As the season comes on when the flames of love mount high, the dull- 

 colored male moves about the pool, apparently heedless of the surrounding fair 

 ones. Such stoical indifference appears too much for the feelings of some of 

 the fair ones to bear. A female coyly glides close to him and l.)ows her liead in 

 pretty submissiveness, but he turns away, pecks at a bit of food, and moves off. 

 She follows, and he quickens his speed, but in vain : he is her choice, and slie 

 proudly arches her neck, and in mazy circles passes and re]:)asses before the 

 harassed bachelor. He turns his breast first to one side and then to the other, 

 as though to escape, but there is his gentle wooer ever pressing her suit l^efore 

 him. Frequently he takes flight to another part of the pool, all to no purpose. 

 If with aft'ected indifference he tries to feed, she swims along side by side, 

 almost touching liim, and at intervals rises on wing above him, and, poised a 

 foot or two over his back, makes a half a dozen sharp wing strokes, prorhtcing 

 a series of sharp whistling noises, in rapid succession." 



When at last this modern Adonis becomes a benedict, he not only shares 

 in the labor of constructing a nest, but is actually set to the task of incubating 

 the eggs, while his care-free spouse enjoys club life at a neighboring pool. 

 We are glad, on the whole, that these perilous precedents are set only in tlie 

 wilds of Alaska, where of course bachelors are proverbially sliy. 



