30 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



case is, however, much more serious than we had at first suspected. I owe 

 the original intimation of the true state of affairs to Mr. A. O. Treganza, 

 the veteran oologist of Salt Lake City ; and subsequent investigation of my 

 own has abundantly confirmed his claims. Mrs. Wilson is a bigamist. Not 

 occasionally, and of course not invariably, but very usually she maintains two 

 establishments. Now that attention is called to it, we see that our note- 

 books are full of references to female phalaropes seen in company with 

 two males. The association can not be accidental, for we are in the very 

 midst of the breeding season. The males, frightened by our presence in the 

 swamp, and not daring to remain longer upon their eggs, have sought the 

 comforting presence of the head of their house. The three take counsel 

 together, and it is only when the redoubtable lady announces that the way is 

 clear that the dutiful cuckolds trail off to their nests. On the 6th and 7th of 

 June, 1922, our M. C. O. party of three members gave close attention to a 

 swamp in Long Valley, southern Mono- County, at an altitude of 7,000 feet. 

 We took 11 sets, of four eggs each, of the Wilson phalaropes, and we noted 

 a distinct tendency of the nests to group themselves in pairs. In only one 

 instance, however, were we able to trace clearly a connection between two 

 occupied nests. These two, containing heavily incubated eggs, were situated 

 only 42 feet apart, and the two males who were flushed from them by a sur- 

 prise coup of ours joined themselves immediately to the only female who had 

 shown any solicitude concerning this section of the swamp. 



Nesting. — The Wilson phalarope is regarded by some egg collectors 

 as an exasperating bird, because they have some difficulty in finding 

 its nest. The nest is surprisingly well concealed, often in what seems 

 to be scanty vegetation ; and the eggs are good examples of protective 

 coloration. I remember once crossing a moist meadow, covered with 

 short grass which had been mowed the previous season; a male 

 phalarope flushed from almost under foot, I threw down my hat to 

 mark the spot and started hunting for the nest. I hunted in vain, 

 until I gave it up and picked up my hat; there was the nest, with 

 four eggs in it, under the hat and in plain sight. 



In southwestern Saskatchewan in 1905 and 1906, we found some 

 half dozen or more nests of this species, between June 8 and July 

 13. The nests were on the wet or moist meadows about the lakes 

 and sloughs or on marshy islands ; some of the nests were in practically 

 plain sight in short grass; others were more or less well concealed 

 in longer grass, which was sometimes arched over them; they were 

 always difficult to find unless the incubating male was flushed. The 

 nests were merely hollows in the damp ground, three or four inches 

 in diameter, either scantily or well lined with dry grass. 



Doctor Nelson (1877) gives a very good description of the behavior 

 of these birds on their nesting grounds, as follows : 



Incubation is attended to by the male alone. The female, however, keeps 

 near, and is quick to give the alarm upon the approach of danger. The females 

 are frequently found at this time in small parties of six or eight ; and should 

 their breeding ground be approached, exhibit great anxiety, coming from 

 every part of the marsh to meet the intruder, and, hovering over his head, 

 utter a weak nasal note, which can be heard to only a short distance. 



