on 
THE NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 70 
that enticing land. The Indians claim that the birds nest aiong our own west 
shore, and the appearance of chance specimens in June is certainly a little puz- 
zling, but we should sooner believe that such are mere wayfarers who have for 
some reason dropped out of the marching ranks of the Alaskan pilgrims. 
By late July the Northern Phalaropes are back again in squads and 
platoons, feeding in the oil-slicks, which announce the presence of marine 
crustaceans, or else flitting up and down the Straits in care-free companies. On 
the 2nd of September, 1908, our boat, the Princess Victoria, encountered great 
numbers of these birds in the passage from Port Townsend to Victoria. The 
day had been foggy; the sea was barely ruffled; and as we plowed our way 
along, now trios and now scores of Phalaropes rose from our bows and settled 
again at no great distance. In alighting they almost invariably chose an oil- 
slick, or else the calm area surrounding a clump of drift-wood. Now and 
again we would pass alongside of such parties, well placed, and they would go 
on with their meal uninterruptedly. These birds exhibit a nervous energy— 
perhaps we should say a dainty greediness in snatching their food from the 
water. Like all Phalaropes these feed with an alert dabbing motion, swinging 
rapidly from side to side, and turning at times so completely around that one 
suspects the bird must profit by the backward glance. 
How these zealous gleaners have behaved themselves while in Alaska, we 
shall let Mr. Nelson tell us: ‘The female of this bird, as is the case with the 
two allied species, is much more richly colored than the male and possesses all 
the rights demanded by the most radical reformers. 
“As the season comes on when the flames of love mount high, the dull- 
colored male moves about the pool, apparently heedless of the surrounding fair 
ones. Such stoical indifference appears too much for the feelings of some of 
the fair ones to bear. A female coyly glides close to him and bows her head in 
pretty submissiveness, but he turns away, pecks at a bit of food, and moves off. 
She follows, and he quickens his speed, but in vain; he is her choice, and she 
proudly arches her neck, and in mazy circles passes and repasses before the 
harassed bachelor. He turns his breast first to one side and then to the other, 
as though to escape, but there is his gentle wooer ever pressing her suit before 
him. Frequently he takes flight to another part of the pool, all to no purpose. 
If with affected indifference he tries to feed, she swims along side by side, 
almost touching him, and at intervals rises on wing above him, and, poised a 
foot or two over his back, makes a half a dozen sharp wing strokes, producing 
a series of sharp whistling noises, in rapid succession.” 
When at last this modern Adonis becomes a benedict, he not only shares 
in the labor of constructing a nest, but is actually set to the task of incubating 
the eggs, while his care-free spouse enjoys club life at a neighboring pool. 
We are glad, on the whole, that these perilous precedents are set only in the 
wilds of Alaska, where of course bachelors are proverbially shy. 
