2O2 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



attend to the monotonous matter of hatching them. 

 It is significant that the female is somewhat larger 

 and a finer-feathered fowl. In other words, the sexes 

 are badly mixed, the female laying the eggs, but the 

 male being the real mother. Such things have been 

 known in unfeathered bipeds. 



Wilson's Phalarope is not a northern bird in the 

 sense that the others are, as it breeds in the United 

 States. It is not uncommon westward from the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, but rare in the Atlantic seaboard States. 

 Warren reports it, however, in Pennsylvania, saying 

 that " at Erie Bay small flocks of these phalaropes 

 are sometimes to be seen in the fall swimming in the 

 water like ducks." 



The Lobe-foot, as this bird is known to many, is 

 stated by Dr. Cooper, in his work on the ornithology 

 of the Pacific seaboard, to pass " in spring and fall 

 through Washington Territory [now State] in small 

 flocks, which associate sometimes with the sand- 

 pipers, but appear to prefer wetter feeding-grounds, 

 wading in the shallow creeks at low tide, and even 

 swimming on the ocean several miles off shore." This 

 is equally applicable to our Eastern phalaropes as seen 

 in March off shore and on the beaches of New Jersey. 



In the United States there are two beautiful wading 

 birds that have considerable in common and yet are 

 not even generically related. These birds are the 

 Avocets and the Stilts. The Avocet is one of our 

 largest wading birds, and is beautifully marked, being 

 largely black and white. The upward curve of the 

 bill at once distinguishes it from other waders. They 

 were formerly very abundant on the New Jersey 



