AMoNG THE WaTER-Fow LL 
of squadrons of miniature ships riding at anchor in 
some harbour. At length I gave up fishing, and 
rowed off from the vessel in the heavy keel tender, 
right among the birds that would hardly get out of 
my way, so tame were they. I think I had not 
realized how many there were till I came to an 
almost solid mass of them that covered acres of 
water. It seemed that such a flock would certainly 
be shy. Not so; as I rowed toward them they 
hardly deigned to notice me, and when I was very 
close, instead of flying, they merely swam to one 
side, opening up a sort of lane through their ranks, 
through which I rowed, after which they simply 
closed up again. 
Being so near them, I was able to learn accur- 
ately what species were represented in this host. 
Nearly all proved to be the Northern Phalarope, 
the smallest kind, but there were a few of the Red 
Phalarope,—a slightly larger and plumper bird,— 
scattered through their caries Some of these had 
still a few ruddy feathers in the breast, the last 
remnants of the summer plumage; but most of 
them were now white-breasted, and bluish gray on 
the back. At a distance it was not easy to dis- 
tinguish the two kinds apart by colour alone. The 
fishermen had told me that for the last two weeks 
they had not seen any more of the red-breasted 
ones. They did not know that this was simply due 
to the moult, and that the birds were really there 
all the time. 
So much interested was I in the Phalaropes that 
I failed to observe the approach of a Nova Scotia 
fog. The first thing I knew I had lost the vessel. 
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