AMONG THE WATER-FOWL 



dressing fish. Around them, feasting on the refuse, 

 were literally thousands of Jaegers, or - Sea-Hens/' 

 as he called them. They kept coming from all 

 directions throughout the day, of all sorts and 

 sizes. What a sight it must have been ! The few 

 birds flying towards the fleet would be suggestion 

 enough now as to where to go. But it was too late 

 for after-thoughts. Next day, with the first snow 

 in the air, and a furious, biting north wind, I said 

 farewell to the haunts of the Jaegers. 



There is another class of birds that, during their 

 stay with us, at any rate, deserve to be included 

 among the Ocean Wanderers, the little Phalaropes. 

 They are classed among the wading-birds, and 

 resemble closely small Sandpipers ; but in their 

 habits they are quite unique. In their marital ways 

 they are said to reverse the ordinary course of 

 Nature, the females doing the courting, and the 

 males attending to the household duties, such as 

 incubation. One species, the Wilson's, of which I 

 shall tell in another chapter, breeds on the western 

 prairies. Two others, the Northern and the Red 

 Phalaropes, breed in the far north, and occur along 

 the Atlantic coast in spring and fall as migrants. 

 Away out at sea, often far out of sight of land, we 

 find them at these seasons in flocks flying about 

 with twittering notes, just like flocks of Sandpipers, 

 but alighting on the water like genuine water-fowl. 

 They show better their " wadership " when they 

 meet with areas of drift-weed, and, settling down 

 upon it in large numbers, run nimbly about, seeking 

 their food, of small marine creatures. 



Off Cape Cod I have been accustomed to see 



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