The Wilson Phalarope 



As it happened once, so it happened a dozen times; and a like experi- 

 ence befell not only upon each of two succeeding Junes, but it has been 

 practically repeated every season since, where Wilson Phalaropes have 

 been encountered at all. Others testify to the same experience. Mr. 

 Robert E. Rockwell, writing of the Barr Lake region, in Colorado, de- 

 clares this Phalarope to be "the most baffling bird as regards nesting 

 habits with which our field work has brought us in contact." 1 He says 

 further: "That the nests are wonderfully well concealed both through 

 protective coloration of the eggs and through the cunning of the parent 



Taken in Fresno County 



AN ANXIOUS FATHER 



Photo by the Author 



birds, is beyond question ; yet this alone would hardly explain our lack of 

 success in finding the nests; for had the birds been actually nesting in the 

 numbers their relative abundance would seem to indicate, it would hardly 

 have been possible for us to fail in our search so consistently." And he 

 offers the suggestion that the local summer population contains a large 

 admixture of non-breeding birds who, nevertheless, evince an interest in 



Condor. Vol. XIV., p. 122. 



Il87 



