ISO Union Bay 



I have found no confirmation. The early record of a young 

 bird in our marsh might possibly indicate the existence of a 

 nearer and earlier breeding ground. At any rate it demon- 

 strates the vexing exceptions that disturb what are thought 

 to be well-established patterns. 



The phalaropes justify their name of sea snipe or swim- 

 ming plovers, for when they are not on the breeding grounds 

 they live largely at sea. They have been seen on the coast of 

 Africa, offshore along Peru and Chile, near Borneo and New 

 Guinea, as far south as Patagonia, and are reported to winter 

 as far north as southern California. Which of these places 

 would the bird on the lily pads visit after it left the marsh? 

 If it flew the offshore route along the coast it may have 

 stopped south of Los Angeles or along South America where 

 Robert C. Murphy, in his book Oceanic Birds of South 

 America, reported northern phalaropes 



... in vast numbers along the whole length of Peru . . . large flocks 



. in Pisco Bay . . . thousands in oily looking patches on the water along 



the coast to southward of San Lorenzo Island . . . thousands upon 



thousands flushed by the southbound steamer near Mazorca Island. . . . 



Regardless of where the bird wintered it is quite probable 

 that its flight would be one of several thousand miles. 



The phalaropes which left the marsh would not be free 

 from the danger which has always attended migration. Such 

 passages over land have produced countless tragedies with 

 losses running into hundreds of thousands of birds. Migration 

 over water is more hazardous, for there are few or no landing 

 places, no protection from sleet or snow which often accom- 

 pany gales. The birds must fly on and if exhausted can only 

 drop helplessly into a caldron in which even strong-swim- 

 ming species cannot live. Other hazards await these travelers. 

 William Brewster, the ornithologist, found in one place that: 



Most of the birds [phalaropes] examined had lost one or more toes, 

 and two or three an entire foot and part of the tarsus also, while others 



