228 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



History. 

 The Northern Phalarope is the most numerous of the Phal- 

 aropes seen in autumn off our coast, but seldom comes ashore in 

 any numbers, though it is not rare on occasion in some of the lakes 

 and rivers of the interior when driven by storms to alight there. 

 On May 21, 1894, Mr. C. J. Smith, one of the drawtenders 

 at the Craigie bridge over the Charles River between Boston 

 and Cambridge, brought three freshly killed North- 

 ern Phalaropes to Mr. M. Abbott Frazar, the Bos- 

 ton taxidermist. These birds were in full breeding 

 plumage. Mr. Smith stated that on the day pre- 

 vious to his visit fully one thousand of these birds 

 Fig. 13. -Foot ^^^^ swiuimiug iu the Charles River between the 

 of Northern Craiglc aud the West Boston bridges. The weather 

 was very foggy and the birds stayed until noon, 

 when they flew away seaward (Brewster). 



This bird is in full plumage probably for less than two 

 months in the summer, and usually is seen off our coasts, 

 sometimes in company with the Red Phalarope, feeding on 

 floating seaweed. I have seen numbers of this beautiful 

 species off the coast of British Columbia. When driven by 

 storms at sea, or lost in the fog, it takes refuge sometimes in 

 shallow ponds. It has a habit of spinning round in a circle. 

 Chapman, who has observed it, says that it gives a rotary 

 motion to the water that brings to the surface small forms of 

 aquatic life, which the bird seizes, darting its bill into the 

 water two or three times with each revolution. 



Northern Phalaropes fly rapidly and often erratically, like 

 the Wilson's Snipe. On the water they rest as lightly as a 

 gull, and swim about alertly, with quick motions of the head, 

 but are unsuspicious and easily approached. 



Dr. Townsend gives some records made by Mr. A. F. Tarr, 

 the head keeper of Cape Ann lights, the twin lighthouses on 

 Thatcher's Island. Among them it is stated that on the night 

 of September 2, 1899, an immense flock dashed against the 

 light. One man picked up eight hundred dead, and Mr. 

 Tarr estimated that one thousand were destroyed. 



