BIRDS OF KANSAS. 149 



May 25th, 1883, I saw, at Fort "Wallace, Kansas, on a pond 

 made by damming the south fork of the Smoky Hill River, a pair 

 of little birds swimming near the center with a small flock of 

 American Eared Grebes. From their motions and position on 

 the water I knew they were Phalaropes, but saw they were too 

 small for Wilson's, which is a common migrant through Kansas; 

 I had never noticed the latter birds resting out upon the water, 

 or swimming, except short distances on their feeding grounds, 

 or when winged by a shot; but I could not make out with cer- 

 tainty whether they were the Northern or the Red Phalarope. 

 So I laid down in a hollow at the edge of the bank and watched 

 them for a long time, hoping the wind, which was strong and 

 favorable, would drift them within shot, but they kept in the 

 center of the pond, and when they did rise circled spirally to a 

 height of about one hundred feet, then struck north. Gone^ and 

 my disappointment was great! As I lay there estimating the 

 distance, and blaming myself for not venturing a shot, my hopes 

 were revived by the sight of a flock of fifteen or sixteen wing- 

 ing their way down the pond and alighting with the Grebes at 

 the place where the others were seen. Instead of quietly rest- 

 ing, like the mated pair, they began chasing each other with 

 tremulous wings and bobbing of heads. The males (the plain- 

 est bird, an exception to the rule) were doing their best to 

 appear brave and attractive. Their actions during courtship 

 are peculiar and ludicrous, much like those of Wilson's Phala- 

 rope, which I have watched on their love (or mating) grounds. 

 The birds only remained a short time, arising in a body from 

 the water and circling like the first. I quickly slipped into my 

 gun a couple of shells loaded with No. 6 shot, and dropped five 

 of the birds, which the wind soon brought to the shore; on 

 picking them up they proved to be the Northern Phalarope, 

 (Lobipes hyperbor&us), two males, and three females. I meas- 

 ured the birds, but only mounted one, as I have a pair in the 

 u Goss Ornithological Collection," shot in the Bay of Fundy 

 on the "ripplings," where the birds gather to feed upon the 

 minute snails and other forms of life on the drift the shrimps 

 feeding upon the same, herrings feeding upon the shrimps, pol- 



