142 Union Bay 



to stop from lack of capacity, for it fed steadily while I ate 

 my lunch and followed it about. 



I wondered why it did not rest and bathe as was the cus- 

 tom with nearly all of the shorebirds which visited the marsh. 

 I could think of no other shorebird which would allow so 

 close approach and particularly on such a day; I had never 

 before seen a bird with such peculiar mannerisms. I did not 

 know until later that it possessed other habits which made 

 the actions I had already observed seem commonplace. 



This bird, the northern phalarope, is the commonest of 

 three species of phalaropes which are found in the Pacific 

 Northwest. The name phalarope comes from- the Greek and 

 means coot-footed, as their toes are lobed, like those of the 

 mud hens or coots. They are shorebirds but they spend most 

 of their time at sea. One of the others, the Wilson phalarope, 

 is found in summer in the valleys east of the Cascade Range, 

 while the red phalarope is an offshore bird and rarely comes 

 to land except to breed or when storm driven. One great 

 appearance of red phalaropes occurred some years ago and 

 is still talked about, for these birds, never before noticed by 

 the natives, were found in great numbers as far inland as 

 Puget Sound. Scarcely a year passed after my first experience 

 with a northern phalarope that I did not see one or more in 

 the marsh. And often when I crossed Puget Sound on the 

 ferry, dozens of them, plainly visible from the boat, would 

 be indulging in their peculiar spinning system. A troop of 

 Boy Scouts, in discussing the hunting methods of birds they 

 had seen, placed the robins at the top because nearly every- 

 thing they ate was easily obtained, but they put the phala- 

 ropes and the swallows in the lowest bracket, and after some 

 deliberation they gave the booby prize to the phalaropes be- 

 cause they thought it took more effort for them to get their 

 food by stirring up their "bathwater" than it did for the swal- 

 lows to fly "about with their mouths open and scooping their 

 food from the air." 



