﻿FIELD AND FOREST. I I 



On the Habits of Steganopus Wilsoni. 



The Wilson's Phalarope is one of the handsomest and finest of all 

 our waders, quiet and modest in its habits, graceful in its carriage, 

 elegantly neat in its plumage, it wins at once a favored place in the 

 heart of the naturalist. 



There is also much in its mode of living so different from most 

 waders that a careful study of its habits is quite sure to reward the ob- 

 server with a considerable degree of satisfaction. 



A very interesting feature in the habits of this bird is that the male 

 attends to the duties of incubation almost entirely alone, while his 

 much richer dressed mate idly gossips and gambols with her friends on 

 the shore. The ordinary provision of nature in dressing the female 

 bird in a more sober garb than the male is in this instance reversed, 

 not only is the female much more brilliant in plumage, but also con- 

 siderably larger. Another point where the superiority of the female of 

 this species is apparent, is that unlike most birds, the female makes the 

 advances to the male during the pairing season. It is quite usual to 

 see two females pursuing one male, instead of two males one female, 

 as is ordinarily the case with others. 



Of the large numbers of these birds which I have examined in their 

 breeding season the male had invariably the naked and wrinkled belly, 

 characteristic of incubating birds, while the female did not show any- 

 thing of the kind ; neither does she evince the distress and concern of 

 the male when the eggs or young birds are approached, in fact I have 

 taken the eggs of this bird when I could have caught the male with my 

 hand, while examining the nest and eggs he would often drop as if shot, 

 within two feet of me, and feign the most distressing pains; the female 

 did not even approach within gun shot, and this only once during the 

 half hour I remained near the nest. 



The nest is often built in a tussock of grass much in the same manner 

 as the Agelcecits phoeniceus, though of course the bird makes no use of 

 the blades of grass to support the nest, which is merely a flat, loosely, 

 constructed affair. They seldom breed in the immediate vicinity of 

 lakes, preferring the adjoining grassy marshes. I have taken a nest, 

 four miles from the nearest sheet of water, in a little slough on a high 

 prairie. 



They are very quiet and still birds, the only note I ever heard them 



