6 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the last, but like all the nests of this species that I saw, the eggs lay on quite 

 a substantial platform of dead grass. In other cases the sites were so wet 

 that the bird must have been sitting actually in water — and the photographer 

 would have had to do likewise ! In the photograph, the grass has been parted 

 in order to show the eggs, but before this was done they were screened as care- 

 fully as the eggs of a redshank or reeve. 



I pitched the tent at once, and went in to hide. Tbe male phalarope 

 stood on a tussock about 20 yards away and watched attentively, I should 

 not thus have tackled the nest of any other wader, but I relied upon the 

 confidence and simplicity of the phalarope, and I did not rely upon them in 

 vain. In about 20 minutes I caught sight of the bird creeping round the 

 tent, and a few minutes later he settled down upon the eggs. In this, my 

 first glimpse of a grey phalarope at close quarters, two points struck me 

 forcibly. One was the apparent extraordinary length of the bird. The single 

 pair of legs in the middle seemed quite insufficient to support so long a body, 

 and with his quaint perky gait, it seemed as if the bird swayed to and fro 

 upon cee springs as he walked. The other was the peculiar harmony of the 

 color of the mantle with the grass around, bleached or blackened by snow and 

 thaw. The long, bladelike form of the secondary feathers, and the buff 

 longitudinal shoulder bands seemed to emphasize the scheme until the bird 

 was almost indistinguishable from his surroundings. 



Herbert W. Brandt in his manuscript notes says : 



The nest of the red phalarope is built either on dry ground or over shallow 

 grass-grown water and is well concealed. Leading away from it usually are 

 one or more runways which are either tunneled or open. The nest is fragile 

 and very loosely made. The interior is moulded into a cup shape and the 

 structure is made of grasses and often lined with moss stems, small leaves 

 of the dwarf birch, cranberry, and other small, crisp leaves found there. 

 Frequently, however, a simple depression in the moss or grass suffices to 

 serve for the nursery. The range of measurements of 18 nests is : Height 3 

 to 5 inches ; inside diameter 2y 2 to 3% inches ; depth of cavity, 2% to 3 inches ; 

 but the nest is sometimes built up higher and is more substantial if placed 

 directly over water. In fact, this little coot-footed bird sometimes builds a 

 miniature cootlike nest. The male alone was noted building the nest, and 

 he usually incubates, but on two occasions the female was observed on the 

 eggs. The incubating bird is not a close sitter and departs from the nest 

 long before the intruder arrives. In that jaeger-haunted land when the male 

 phalarope returns to the nest he weaves so stealthily through the grass that 

 it is almost impossible to follow his devious course so that two or three 

 rapid charges are necessary by the watcher toward the supposed location of 

 the nest before the incubating bird can finally be forced to rise directly from 

 its eggs. 



Eggs. — The red phalarope ordinarily lays four eggs, though three 

 sometimes constitute a full set, and as many as six have been found 

 in a nest, probably laid by two birds. They vary in shape from 

 ovate pyriform to subpyriform and have a slight gloss. The pre- 

 vailing ground colors range from " pale olive buff " to " dark olive 

 buff " ; in the darker sets they vary from " ecru olive " to " Isabella 

 color " ; in a few sets there is a greenish tinge approaching " light 

 brownish olive ". The markings are bold, sharply defined and irreg- 



