RED PHALAROPE 5 



situated some 10 meters from the real lake, but. surrounded by shallow water, 

 that came from a little river running out from the lake and irrigating all the 

 tufts, one of which contained the nest. This bird also kept very close on the 

 nest, and did not leave it before I parted the long grass with my foot. When 

 frightened up from the nest the bird for a short while lay screaming and flap- 

 ping on the water not far from me; thereupon he flew away, silently and 

 rapidly, to land on the opposite side of the lake. Having been absent for some 

 live minutes he returned just as rapidly, flew a good way to the other side of 

 the nest, sat down, and kept quiet for a couple of minute s, whereafter he again 

 flew up and took the earth some 20 meters from the nest, which he then rap- 

 idly approached walking and swimming hidden by aquatic plants and tufts. 

 All this was done in order to mislead me, who was lying some 15 meters from 

 the nest without any shelter and therefore seen by the bird all the while. 



C. W. G. Eifrig (1905) found the red phalarope breeding very 

 commonly around Cape Fullerton and Southampton Island, Hudson 

 Bay. " They nest around fresh water ponds, laying their eggs, with- 

 out nesting material, in depressions in the sand or moss, often in 

 lichens." John Murdoch (1885), on the other hand, says, at Point 

 Barrow, Alaska, that — 



The nest is always in the grass, never in the black or mossy portions of the 

 tundra, and usually in a pretty wet situation, though a nest was occasionally 

 found high and dry, in a place where the nest of the pectoral sandpiper would 

 be looked for. A favorite nesting site was a narrow grassy isthmus between 

 two of the shallow ponds. The nest is a very slight affair of dried grass and 

 always well concealed. 



In the Kotzebue Sound region Joseph Grinnell (1900) found three 

 nests, of which he says : 



The nests were all on higher ground and at a distance of 100 yards or more 

 from the lagoons where the birds usually congregated for feeding and social 

 purposes. The three nests agreed in situation, being rather deep depressions 

 sunk into the tops of mossy hummocks. There was a thin lining of dry 

 grasses, and in one case the drooping blades from an adjoining dumb of grass 

 partially concealed the nest from view froin above. 



Miss Maud D. Haviland (1915) relates her experience with the 

 nesting habits of this species, at the mouth of the Yenesei Iliver, 

 Siberia, as follows : 



I found the first nest on Golchika Island early in July. Sly attention was 

 called to it by the male bird, which flew round uneasily. Even when the nest- 

 ing ground is invaded, this phalarope is very quiet and not very demonstrative. 

 He flits round the intruder with a peculiar silent flight, rather like a big red 

 moth, while he utters his chirruping alarm note — u zhit zhit." This call is shril- 

 ler than that of Phalaropus lohatus, and quite recognizable where the two species 

 breed side by side. I sat down on a log of driftwood, and in about half an 

 hour was able to flush the bird from four fresh eggs. This nest, however, 

 was not placed very well for photography, for about 50 yards away was a turf 

 hut, which a Russian family had just taken possession of for the summer, 

 and I dared not leave the hiding tent or apparatus near the spot. On the 

 following day I was more fortunate, and found a nest which was also on the 

 island but about half a verst away. It was in rather a dryer situation than 



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