The Northern Phalarope 



If these creatures usually have as much difficulty in making up their 

 mind to a certain course of action as did a flock I once observed at Santa 

 Barbara, their tardiness may be more easily accounted for. A flock of 

 about forty birds sighted over Laguna Blanca on the 29th of May, 1915, 

 required about fifteen minutes to decide which particular spot of forty 

 similar acres to settle on. But the birds were no sooner down than a Coot 

 put them to flight; and it was all to do over again. Not less than two 

 hundred times did this aggregation of incompetents weave to and fro 

 before anything decisive was brought to pass. 



A study of the evolutions of this nonplussed flock raised many ques- 

 tions which the doctors of psychology are not yet prepared to answer. 

 What is the basis of leadership in flock movements? Is there a flock 

 impulse, or a common consciousness? Are flock decisions put to vote? 

 If so, does the majority rule? Or is unanimity necessary to social action? 

 There is no one to tell us. 



It was noteworthy, in this case, that the flock did not describe an 

 actual circle in flight, but that it (that is, each individual of it) reversed, 

 about-faced sharply, at the end of each tack. The course of the flock was, 

 therefore, roughly lens-shaped or fusiform. This evolution is more diffi- 

 cult than a blind follow-your-leader turn, and one marvels at the signal 

 code, be it visible, audible, tactile, or psychical, which guarantees an 

 instant rebound of forty feathered bullets without catastrophe. 



Taken in Santa Barbara 



WALTZ TIME 



Photo by the Author 



Il82 



