WILSON'S PHALAROPE 



May 28, 1895 



MRS. HUBBARD and I spied two of 

 these handsome birds in a small 

 pond on the road to the spring. We had 

 the most satisfactory study of them. They 

 allowed us to come within about fifteen 

 feet of them, and we watched them as long 

 as we wanted to. There were two of 

 them, both females, possibly, as these are 

 described as the more brilliant of the two 

 sexes. They were most conspicuous, 

 striking birds, with their gleaming white 

 breasts, black stripe through the eye, run- 

 ning into chestnut on the neck and back, 

 and the broad white stripe on the back of 

 the head and neck. They were most un- 

 concerned about our presence, and went on 

 wading in the puddle and feeding in the 

 water as calmly as if we had been miles 

 away. One bird was very belligerent to 

 the other one and drove it away numbers 

 of times. There was another smaller bird 

 with these two beauties, apparently of the 

 same family, but it was striped with grey 

 and brown on the back, and plain white 

 underneath, a sparrowy looking creature. 



[75] 



