296 HYPERBOREAN PHALAROPE. 



As we advanced eastward in the month of May, we saw more and more of 

 them, and while at Eastport in Maine my son John shot several out of 

 flocks of sixty or more. At one time a flock consisting of more than a 

 hundred was seen in the Bay of Fundy. They were exceedingly shy, and 

 the gunners of Eastport, who knew them under the name of Sea Geese, 

 spoke of them as very curious birds. 



They procure their food principally upon the water, on which they alight 

 like Ducks, float as light as Gulls, and move about in search of food with 

 much nimbleness. The sight of a bank of floating sea-weeds or garbage of 

 any kind induces them at once to alight upon it, when they walk about as 

 unconcernedly as if on land. Their notes, which resemble the syllables 

 tiveet, tweet, tweet, are sharp and clear, and in their flight they resemble 

 our common American Snipe. At the approach of an enemy, they imme- 

 diately close their ranks, until they almost touch each other, when great 

 havoc is made among them; but if not immediately shot at, they rise all at 

 once and fly swiftly off, emitting their shrill cries, and remove to a great 

 distance. These Phalaropes congregate in this manner for the purpose of 

 moving northwards to their breeding-grounds, although some remain and 

 breed as far south as Mount Desert Island. I have met with them in equally 

 large flocks at a distance of more than a hundred miles from the shores. 



They were feeding on great beds of floating seaweeds, and in several 

 instances some Red Phalaropes were seen in their company. 



Whilst in Labrador, I observed that the Hyperborean Phalarope occurred 

 only in small parties of a few pairs, and that instead of keeping at sea or on 

 the salt-water bays, they were always in the immediate vicinity of small 

 fresh-water lakes or ponds, near which they bred. The nest was a hollow 

 scooped out among the herbage, and covered with a few bits of dried grass 

 and moss. The eggs are always four; they measure at an average an inch 

 and three-sixteenths in length, seven-eighths in their greatest diameter, are 

 rather pointed at the smaller end, and are more uniform in their size and 

 markings than those of most water-birds. The ground colour is deep dull 

 buff, and is irregularly marked with large and small blotches of dark reddish- 

 brown, which are larger and more abundant on the crown. The birds shew- 

 ed great anxiety for the safety of their eggs, limping before us, or running 

 with extended wings, and emitting a feeble melancholy note, as if about to 

 expire. When we approached them, they resumed all their natural alacrity, 

 piped in their usual manner, flew off and alighted on the water. Captain 

 Emery and myself followed some nearly an hour, assisted by a pointer dog, 

 in the hope of tiring them out; but they seemed to laugh at our efforts, and 

 when Dash was quite close to them, they would suddenly fly off in another 

 direction, and with great swiftness, always leading us farther from their 



