12 



THE OOLOGIST. 



the amorous females bespeaks an ardor 

 that would be ridiculous, under the 

 circumstances; were it not so desperate- 

 ly in earnest. 



By June first, the nests are ready to 

 receive the eggs; the sets, in many 

 cases, being complete by the fifth of 

 the month, along the northern border 

 of the States,* The sites vary little. 

 Sometimes a nest will be found built 

 up over a half-inch of water; but, as a 

 rule, the base of the nest will bo fairly 

 dry. The site is usually amid the 

 standing green grass, not quite knee- 

 high. Some attempt is generally made 

 at canopying; the green blades, in all 

 their stubborn straightness, being drawn 

 together at the top with marvellous 

 skill and patience. In the main, the 

 nest, itself, is quite as fragile as the 

 ground nests of such birds are wont to 

 be;. last a handful of dead grass. But 

 the arrargemont, and the general effect 

 of nest and site is quite in keeping with 

 the bird's daintiness. And the eggs 

 farnish the finishing touch. Their 

 grevs and drabs, in varying tints, and 

 the rich, variant markings of umber or 

 of purplish sepia form, with tie nest 

 and the site, a really marvellous 

 example of harmony and of color pro- 

 tection. 



After the eggs have been laid, the 

 birds, both male and female, show 

 much solicitude; should any intruder 

 venture within half- a-mile of tii3 nest, 

 with evident concern, they welcome the 

 coming, and speed the going guest. 

 As he meanders, hawk like, over the 

 meadows, all legs aad eves, the Phala- 

 ropes flit and soar, above his head, with 

 the airiest of undulating flight-move- 

 ments, repeating, incessantly, a soft, 

 tender, entreating, ventriloquial little 

 "quack"; an exact miniature of the 

 female mallard's soliloquy. t Where- 

 ever the collector gies, the Phaiaropes 



* Iowa re ords are considerably earlier. 

 f The head tips upward with each repetition 

 of the note. 



go with him, circling, fearlessly, but a 

 few feet above his head. Artless little 

 deceivers, these; for the coUecter who 

 has never been initiated into this sort 

 of espionage is ever expecting to find 

 something of interest when Phalaropea 

 dance attendance; but he is mainly 

 disappointed. With growing experi- 

 ence, it begins to occur to him that if 

 he is surrounded, half-hours at a time, 

 by three or four pairs of Phalaropes, 

 the prospect of flushing any one of the 

 four, six or eight, from the cunningly 

 hidden eggs is, to say the least, by no 

 means great. 



It is only, then, when the searcher 

 turns from the Phalaropes, in disgust 

 and sets his interest upon the quest of 

 bobolinks and bitterns that the un- 

 expected happens. For suddenly then,^ 

 either from just before his very feet or 

 from a scarcely tindable point at from 

 twenty to thirty feet away, the seedy 

 little male Phalarope starts, wings 

 fluttering, legs dangling and with the 

 tiniest, most plaintive vocal protest 

 breathing, sometimes, from the anxious, 

 fussy little body. Then the searcher is 

 fortunate, indeed, if he be keen-eyed 

 and heedful footed. He carefuily lays 

 bare every hollow of the ground; and 

 brushes aside" every spear of grass. He 

 traverses e^ery square foot of ground, 

 within a likely distance. Just as he 

 reaches the despair point, as he has so 

 often done before, the hidden treasure 

 slowly emerges upon his gaze. He 

 feasts his eyes a moment, turns away 

 again to see what that hysterical male 

 is doing; and then repeats the whole 

 search peiformance for the benefit of 

 the marsh dwellers. Yet it is worth 

 while. But one conceivable thing is 

 daintier, more delicate than the nest 

 and eggs of a Wilson's Pnalarope; and 

 that is the soft, grey-bodied, elusive 

 chicks, that are to emerge from the 

 eggs in due time; whom the parents 

 will attend and defend with all their 

 wildly excited and wheedling arts; but 

 whom not one mortal out of a huadred 

 ardent and tireless searchers will ever 

 see, in all their wierd, fleeting beauty. 

 P. B. Peabody. 



