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THE RED PHALA.ROPE. 



Phalaropvs fulicarjus, Bonap. 



PLATE CCLV. Adult Male and Female in Summeh, and Adult in Winter. 



My first drawing of the Red Phalarope was made at Louisville in 

 Kentucky, a few weeks after my removal to that place, in 1808. One af- 

 ternoon, while returning from the house of my hospitable friend General 

 Croghan, I observed a large flock of birds proceeding along the shores 

 of the Ohio. They were quite unknown to me, and therefore extremely 

 anxious I was to procure some of them, I therefore ran through the 

 woods until I got ahead of them, went to the margin of the river, and 

 concealed myself at some distance from them. They swam beautifully, 

 played about, picked up substances floating on the watei", now dispersed, 

 and again came close together, until at length coming opposite to a small 

 sand-bar stretching out from the shore to the distance of a few yards, 

 they directed their course towards it, and waded out. When just land- 

 ing, they were so close to each other that I could not withstand the temp- 

 tation, and so levelled my gun, pulled both triggers, and saw that 1 had 

 made considerable havock among them. Those which had not been Jiitten. 

 flew off in a compact body, while the birds that had been but slightly 

 wounded made for the water, and swam away so fast that they seemed to 

 be running on the surface. I picked up seventeen, which I found so 

 beautiful and withal so plump, that I felt quite delighted, and resolved 

 to shoot as many more as I could. But I did not succeed in killing more 

 than other five that day. 



I had never until then seen a Phalarope of any kind, although I 

 had inspected some shocking figures of these elegant birds, figures so un- 

 like the originals that even with the aid of a name printed beneath, you 

 could not recognise them. Such of my acquaintances at Louisville as had 

 been accustomed to shoot birds, had never seen one of this species on the 

 Ohio, or in any part of the country. It was then and there that I made 

 my first drawing of the Red Phalarope, which I shewed to Alexander 

 Wilson during his visit to Louisville. It being late in October, the 

 specimens which I had procured were all in their grey livery, and proved 

 capital eating. As I was anxious to watch the rest of the flock, which I 



