1S92.] Genera/ Notes. ^OC 



surf was tunihliiiii- in 011 tho beach, within iil'tcen or twent\' yards of whicli 

 the birds were distributed for quite a distance. They passed to and fro on 

 wing, alighting on any temporarily smooth spot amid the rollers, and im- 

 mediately commenced feeding. When a curling wave towered above and 

 threatened to engulf them, they ro.se on wing and, just clearing the crest ot 

 the wave, again alighted behind it, to repeat the operation when the occasion 

 required. While on the water all their movements were exceedingly agile 

 and graceful, as they swam with astonishing rapidit}', picking up at short 

 intervals something edible from apparently just below the surface, the bill 

 being immersed only about half its length; what it was, I failed to discover. 

 Frequently they would spin around in quest of it, as on a pivot. The head 

 and neck are carried erect to the fullest extent. 1 did not notice one with 

 the neck arched or curved while swimming; neither did I see one of them 

 attempt to dive during my observations which lasted over an hour. They 

 appeared remarkably active, and all the time were busily engaged in feeding. 

 I saw none resting quietly on the water, neither did I hear them 

 utter any sound. They are said, however, to make a peeping note. 

 Their flight and general appearance when flying reminded me strongly 

 of the Sanderling. Occasionally four or five would collect together; 

 but I failed to secure more than one at a single shot, owing to the rapidity 

 of their movements as also to the waves. Although the birds remained the 

 whole time within a few yards of the beach, during which time I wascon- 

 stantl}' firing at them, they seemed quite tame and gentle. They nevertheless 

 were difficult to shoot as they bobbed about like a cork, now up, now down, 

 and sometimes for an instant only in front of a wave, and then lost to view- 

 behind it, rising and falling with the waves several feet at a time. Of the 

 fifteen I shot down I saved twelve, one of which was a Northern Phalarope 

 (^Phalaropus lobatus), a female in the adult spring plumage, a most beauti- 

 ful bird, and the first I have taken in this plumage. I could easily have 

 captured more of the Red Phalaropes, but considered I had a suiYiciently good 

 series, the birds being in various stages of plumage, except the fully adult. 

 One of the crew of the life-saving station at this end of the island (west), 

 and within a mile and a half of the spot where I shot them, informed me 

 the next day that, on the day previous to the one on which I shot them, he 

 should think he had seen nearly two hundred of them. On May 10 they 

 had mostly departed. There were several hundreds in the flocks which 

 were resting on the water and flying about. One of my friends, who has 

 made the passage several springs from New York to South Carolina and 

 return, and who knows the bird, informs me that in the years 18S6, 1S87, 

 and 1SS9, he saw them in numbers beyond estimate, about April 20, fifty to 

 one hundred miles north of Cape Hatteras, N. C, and perhaps fifty miles 

 from land. 



I am of the opinion that this bird is more abundant along the coast 

 than would be inferred from the few which are taken, but I account for 

 so few, comparatively, being noted b^' the fact that as a usual thing lhe\- 

 do not linger near the shore, unless driven in by severe weather. 



As far as I am aware, this spring, the first of these birds observed were 



