Bird Life of No«tii Dakota 27 



There are two sets of eggs in the Museum of Zoology Collection; one 

 lot of eleven taken at Larimore, Grand Forks County. June 10, 1896, by 

 Alfred Eastgate, and another of six collected at Sweetwater Lake, Ramsey 

 County. May 23. 1900, by E. S. Bryant. 



68. Lohipcs lobatus (Linnaeus). Northern Phalarope. 



JuDD, IQ17. p. 12; tolerably common during^ spring migration, not noted in the 

 fall. Freeman, 1919. p. 11 ; seen once on September 2. 



At Devils Lake this species was one of the earliest migrants from the 

 north in 1920. On July 15 a flock of nearly one hundred were feeding on 

 the water and several were taken for records. In 192 1 a few were seen on 

 May 17, and the number gradually increased until May 25, when a big wave 

 of them came in, and I estimated that there were a thousand or more in 

 Creel Bay alone. Thousands more arrived each day until, on May 30, there 

 must have been from eight to ten thousand on the bay. They were very 

 tame and fed all around the boat on the numerous aquatic insects. Most 

 of them left on June 2 and 3. On July 19 hundreds were on the lake again, 

 the first arrivals from their summer homes in the north. 



69. Steganopus tricolor Vieillot. Wilson's Phalarope. 



CouES, 1878, p. 636; breeds throughout the country from the Red River to the 

 Rocky Mountains. At Pembina breeds about reedy pools and prairie slouRhs in June. 

 REEd, IQ04, p. 100, a set of eggs from Larimore, Grand Forks County, May 30, i8g7, 

 collected by T. F. Eastgate. Judd, 1917. p. 12; breeding in numbers around Rock 

 Lake, Towner County. Nests were not far from the water on leyel, moist grouna 

 in a thick growth of grass. First arrivals were noted May i. Bailey, 1918, p. 65; 

 photograph of nest and bird at Sweetwater Lake, Ramsey County, IQIJ- 



This is a common summer resident, breeding in suitable localities. The 

 earliest spring arrival was May 26, 1921. During August, 1920, many 

 flocks came and fed in the mud flats of Creel Bay, Devils Lake. 



70. Recurvirostra americana Gmelin. Avocet. 



ConES, 1878, p. 635: not observed in the Red River region. S. C. C, p. 415; 

 anite common, Bismarck, April 18, 1887. Thwaites, 1905, p. 186; on September 28. 

 1833, near Fort Union, Maximilian records seeing the avocet with its strange upturned 

 bill. Abbott, 1916, p. 2; opposite this page is a photograph of a set of eg'gs in situ 

 and another of the same showing young just hatched. These were evidently taken 

 in North Dakota, but no data is given. Judd, 1917. p. 12; a rare species, but undoubt- 

 edly breeds. A female taken May 15. 1895, by Dr. Bishop contained an egg fully 

 formed. 



The species was not seen in the field. Mr. Reid reports that it is fre- 

 quent on some of the larger alkali lakes and sloughs northeast of Bismarck, 

 and was noted at Chase Lake, Stutsman County, and was quite common at 

 I^ake Isabel, Kidder County, August 7, 192 1. Mr. Alfred Eastgate tells 

 me he saw avocets near Larimore in the summer of 1921. There is a 

 mounted female in the Agricultural College Collection taken at Kenmare, 

 Ward County, May 4, 1913. Two others, taken at Minot by W. S. Mum- 

 mery, and one from the Turtle Mountains, October 5, 1917, by J. Kusler, 



