The Northern Phalarope 



Taken in Santa Barbara 



ATTENTION! 



NORTHERN PHALAROPE IN AUTUMNAL PLUMAGE 



Photo by the Author 



little provocation as that afforded the bursting bubble of foam, its late 

 brother. We who dwell by the sea wait eagerly for the reappearance of 

 our confiding little voyageurs, in April or early May, and though our files 

 are already bursting full of "negatives," we shall not cease to pursue this 

 dainty apparition as often as he condescends to visit our brackish pools 

 and shallows. 



Truth to tell, the enthusiasm of photographic pursuit often leads 

 the camerist into sorry places. Accustomed though it be to gleaning a 

 living from the surface of the ocean, where everything is "clean," a 

 Phalarope's interest in backwater lagoons or interior waters is directly 

 proportioned to their impurity. Here at Santa Barbara we have a most 

 conspicuous example in the "Estero," which is a stretch of low-lying, 

 flooded barrens near the car shops and the beach. This watery waste 

 receives not only the contributions of ancient springs now polluted by 

 civilization, but also the frustrated waters of the city's outfall sewer, 

 when the tide is over-high. The combined result is a culture medium of 

 a potency to daunt any but the most hardened human explorer, as well as 

 to compel the attendance of even the most wary of avian gourmets. Here 



1179 



