20 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Young. — The period of incubation does not seem to be definitely 

 known, but probably it is not far from 21 days. A set of four eggs 

 found by H. B. Conover on June 10 hatched on the evening of June 

 30. Incubation is performed largely, but perhaps not wholly, by the 

 male. H. H. Slater (1898) writes: * 



Jerdon asserts that the females (of all the phalaropes presumably) leave 

 the care of the nests to the males and lead a club life in separate flocks. In 

 (he present species I have not found the sex to be so much " emancipated." I 

 have never shot the red-necked phalarope off the nest, often as I have had a 

 chance to do so, nor have I seen bare hatching spots on the breasts of either 

 sex. I have no doubt that the males are the most attentive parents, but in 

 the case of isolated nests the second bird makes its appearance before you have 

 been there long, and I have repeatedly seen both with the young. In fact, I 

 should have said that of all the birds I know the present species is the most 

 connubial, and the mutual devotion of a pair is a most charming thing to see — 

 in fact, quite touching. When not actively employed they treat themselves, 

 and one another, to all manner of pretty and playful endearments. 



Hugh S. Gladstone (1907) says: 



Incubation is performed mostly, if not entirely, by the male. I flushed 

 females off nests on two occasions, but in one case the full complement of eggs 

 was not yet laid, and in the other I think they were only newly laid. The 

 ground color of the eggs varied from stone to olive, and in one nest all four 

 eggs were remarkably rotund. They take some IS days to hatch, and only one 

 brood is hatched in the season, though if the first sitting is destroyed the bird 

 will lay again. The nestlings, although they can not fly for some days, are 

 wonderfully precocious and can swim immediately. Their beautiful golden 

 downy plumage becomes paler and paler, even after the first 24 hours. 



When the nest contains eggs the female bird shows the greatest anxiety. She 

 can be seen swimming about in the pools ; or, rising without any splash, flying 

 up and down quite close to one, uttering a low cry of " plip, plip" varied by a 

 hoarse " chiss-ick." This cry warns the male, which never flies off the nest, 

 but always creeps through the grass and rushes, to some pool, near one of 

 which the nest is invariably placed. Here he will soon be joined by the female, 

 and they will swim about trying to hide their anxiety by preening their feathers 

 or pretending to feed. 



Some observers have said that the young do not take to the 

 water until they are fully fledged, but Mr. Hersey's notes say that: 

 " They run lightly over the beaten clown masses of grass around the 

 tundra ponds and when they know they are discovered take to the 

 water and swim as well as their parents." 



Doctor Nelson (1887) writes: 



Fresh eggs are rarely found after June 20th. and by the middle to 20th of 

 July the young are fledged and on the wing. By the 12th to 15th of July a few 

 of the ashy feathers of the autumnal plumage appear, and soon after old and 

 young begin to gather in parties of from five to a hundred or more, and seek 

 the edges of large ponds and flats or the muddy parts of the coast and borders 

 of tide creeks. During August and September they are found on the bays, and 

 (he last are seen about the last of September or first of October. 



