PHALAROPODID^ — THE PFIALAROPES — STErrAXOPUS. 



337 



iluii^; llu 

 m TiMii- 

 igrutiuiis. 



er with ii 

 biiek ami 

 II till! si(k' 

 lilt — this 

 scainilar^ 

 till' I'ill), 

 t latevally 



parts white. 



amy, \\y\<i-y 

 lualf, wiili 

 Ahovf, f'lii- 

 IL' ju'^'uhuii 

 ami siNiiiu- 

 uin'iriliaiv 



color l>ri;Jii 

 iiK't im-iliaii 

 iiu'n ; lowir 

 liioii cio>Mtl 



k: ^Vill!-^ 



idfii 



■nt its i;t'o- 



t'ctly asci'v- 



whicli hiis 



jn'oit^s, ami 



vu to be liy 



vn IlUiiois, 



U'itish l«'s- 



iiot appeal' 



\' 



to liiivt' hpcn found on the Pacific coast. During tlic winter months it occurs in 

 (liiiitcniala an.l in Mexico, Init to what extent we have no certain inl'orination. 



More recently it leis been ascertained to be a common resiih'iit in the more sontli- 

 nii portions of South America. .Mr. il. Jhirnford, in liis account of the birds observed 

 iiv him in the Cliupat VaUey of Pataf^tmia. mentions this species as beinj,' quite com- 

 iiioii in that re,<,'ion, where he saw it swimminj,' tjraceftdly in tlie still pools formed 

 liv the eddies of the river, and in nearly all the adjacent stagnant ditches. The birds 

 were usually seen in pairs. 



(';iptain Uendire regards this l)ir(l as being moderately common in Eastern Oregon 

 (luring the breeding-season, at which time it associates with the Willets, whiidi it 

 iiscnd)les in its own actions when any one approaches its nesting-place. Mr. Ntdson 

 iiii'iitions this species as a very common summer resident in the mar.shes of Northern 

 Illinois, arriving about the nnddle of .May, and remaining until into August. It nests 

 fioiu about tlu' L'oth of May until late iu June. 



Mr. A. li. Kumlien, in "Field and Forest," duly, 1S7(), supplies some interesting 

 notes relative to the very remiirkable and eccentric ways of this bird. In its mode 

 ol living it is (pnte ditferent from most Waders; and one very peculiar feature in 

 its habits is that the male attends to the duties of incubation almost entirely alone. 

 while his nuudi nu)rc richly dressed mate idly gambols <m the shore. Unlike most 

 hirds, the female of this species makes tlu- advances to the male during the jiairing 

 si'Msini, and it is (piite connnon to see two females pursuing one male. Mr. Kumlien 

 hiis invariably found the naked and wrinkled belly, (diaraeteristic of the incubating 

 hiid, present in the male, but never in the fenude. Neither does the female evince 

 the distress shown by the nude when the nest is approached, the latter licing (piite 

 reckless of danger, while his mate will not conu' within gunshot. The nest is de- 

 st led as being a flat, loosely-constructtid affair, liuilt in a tussock of grass, seldom 

 in I he immediate vicinity of ojien wiiter, but usually in the adjoining grassy marshes, 

 in one instaiu^e a nest was found, four n.iles from the nearest sheet of water, in a 

 small slough on a Idgh ])rairie. Mr. Kumlien speaks of this species iis being remark- 

 ably ([uiet and still. Tins oidy note he had ever heard it utter was a weak misal 

 ijuack repeated six or seven times in (piick siu-cession ; this is usually done by the 

 nude at the time when the nest is ap])roa(du'd. The young are conducted to the shore 

 soon after they are hatcdied, and when surprised will take to the water ami swim and 

 (live with great ease. They are fnlly tiedged by the last of July, congregating in con- 

 siderable flocks at that time. 



I'rofessor T. Kumlien wrote me in ISfiO that this species, whicdi before that 

 period had been om> of the rarest of birds — only two or three having l)een noticed 

 in iis many or more years — had becomt* (pnte jdentifid, moving in large flocks. The}- 

 arrive .May 4, and are at first very shy. b\it btd'ore leaving beconu' as tame as the 

 beast Sandpiper. He often wattdied their movements from a distance of not more 

 than six or eight feet. From the facts that there was not one male to eight females, 

 that they nuived in flocks, and that at the sanu' tinu' the females had eggs full-sized 

 in their ovaries, ho was led to sus])ect that they were judyganums. He has sine(> 

 written me that this sjjccies is now found more or less comnumly each season near 

 bake Koskonong. A few' remain there to breed, but the greater jiortion pass throngh 

 to more northern regions in the latter jtart of May. The young begin to appear in 

 advance of their parents in August. In the sunnner of 187.'{ this species occiirn-d 

 there in nnusnal nnmbers. The young birds becanu' very uumennis a.s early as the 

 middle of July, but gradually gri'W less abundant toward the 15th of Angiist. IMr. 

 Ivnndien Avas of opinion that only a very few of the yttung birds cuuld have been 



VOL. I. — 43 



