IN THE ESTERO 



So far I wrote in the summer of 191 1, telling 

 what I had seen ; but with the autumn came in- 

 crease of knowledge. September and October 

 brought thousands of Northern phalaropes, and 

 in November, ten days after the last of these had 

 taken their departure, came a flock of two hun- 

 dred, more or less, of the so-called red species, — 

 as much to our surprise as to our pleasure, since 

 nothing of the kind had been witnessed during 

 the three previous seasons. Day by day their 

 numbers were augmented till the whole Estero, 

 on both sides of the railroad, was thick with 

 them. Every pool had its quota. And in the mat- 

 ter of whirling they proved to be not a whit be- 

 hind their Northern relatives. Scores of them 

 could be seen practising the vertiginous game at 

 once. In more senses than one it was a stirring 

 spectacle; and "whirligig birds" seemed more 

 than ever appropriate as a family cognomen. 



