/ 



lanJom JlotejS on iatural |i0tort). 



Vol. II. PROVIDENCE, MAY 1, 1885. 



Entered at the Providence Post-Offiee as Second-Class Matter. 



No. 5. 



A Monthly Devoted to the Distribution of Use- 

 ful Knowledge Concerning the Various De- 

 partments OF Zoology, Mineralogy, and 

 Botany. 50 Cents a Year. 

 Address all communications to 



SOUTHWICK & JENCKS, 

 358 Westminster St., Providence, K. 1., U.S. A. 



A Collecting Trip to Cape Cod. 



M (Continued.) 



/ As soon as the boat was in the water I was 

 making for those birds for all I was worth, 

 and in a few moments a pair of Northern 

 Phalaopes lay upon the water about forty 

 yards apart. While picking them up. the 

 boat drifted b}* the swiftly incoming tide, 

 was several hundred yards from where it 

 started, and after beaching it at the nearest 

 point I hastened to my companion, whom I 

 dispatched for the two lads who rowed for 

 us, while I put cotton in the mouths of the 

 birds we had taken and did each up in a 

 paper. The boys were loth to leave their 

 decoys to hunt the new birds, even when 

 we offered them five cents each for every 

 bird that was killed, no matter who killed it. 

 The boys did not pull veiy energetically 

 until a flock of thirty or forty were sighted, 

 when they partook of some of our enthus- 

 iasm. This flock was moving against the 

 tide with the same pla^'ful motions, those 

 in the rear flying over and dropping in the 

 water in front of the others, and in this way 

 about one quarter of them were in motion 

 all the time. 



Our lads succeeded in pulling alongside 

 at a distance not to scare them, and, getting 

 ahead, we paused broadside directly in 

 their course. On they came, entirely un- 

 conscious of danger, and our fire killed 

 and wounded seven or eight. We drifted 

 nearl}' half a mile northward while picking 

 them up, and then began the hunt for them 

 again. This time we sighted them nearly 

 half a mile south of where tliey were previ- 

 ou.sly, but, though the lads pulled hard, 

 they were unable to get in front of them 



again, or even within gunshot tiom the i 

 side. Over and over one another the}' I 

 went, keeping the same distance ahead and 

 to one side, until, reaching the narrows, 

 they wheeled, and flew away to the north, 

 farther than we could keep our eyes upon 

 them. 



We put about and met them coming, as 

 before, and secured a couple, after a hard, 

 pull. Repeating this a few times more, 

 wdth poor success, we found the flock had 

 separated into smaller ones and pairs, and 

 we had little trouble in securing them. 

 The}^ were now resting or swimming, and 

 not constantly lea^^ng the water. One 

 bunch of nine was all cleaned up with our 

 four barrels. In less than three hours' time 

 the boj^s earned $1.85 each, and had a 

 very good opinion of Phalarope hunting. 



The next day, at flood tide, we found 

 another flock of considerable size on the 

 flats and succeeded in getting sixteen more. 

 This flock was about the inlet, and we fol- 

 lowed them as far to the ocean as it was 

 safe for a dor}' to go. We now saw where 

 we had been on the Monday night previous, 

 actually into the edge of the breakers. 



The female Northern Phalarope is much 

 handsomer than the male, and though not 

 able to equal the Wilson's in beauty, yet in 

 spring dress it is one of the very handsom- 

 est of our shore birds. These Fhalaropes 

 are known to fishermen as " whale birds,'* 

 and are usually to be met with oS" shore, 

 and probabl}' not within several miles of 

 the land.* 



After the Phalai-opes had gone upon the 

 ocean we set out our decoys and secured a 

 fine lot of Red-breasted Sandpipers, Turn- 

 stones, and Sanderlings. We saw fiocks of 

 Black-bellied Plover, but could not decoy 

 them, as they are very shy and difiicult to 

 obtain in the spring, and if one individual 

 is among a flock of other birds, it leads and 

 usually keeps them out of danger. 



Arctic and Wilson's Terns were abundant. 





* Mr. Dutchcr, in the January, '8+, Auk, writes of i he 

 abundance of this bird at Long Island during ilie 

 same two days thit I met them. 



