306 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



whilst I was walking away, having let me come so close without 

 moving, so it may either fly or steal from the nest. As incuba- 

 tion advances it probably sits closer, and this strengthening of 

 the brooding instinct might overcome a feeling of caution which 

 would induce it otherwise to retreat as unobtrusively as possible, 

 but I find it difficult to believe that the bird has really this 

 prudent idea in its mind. 



It was about 7.30 p.m. (to-day) when I got back to my place, 

 after seeing the Phalarope fly off, and I watched the nest for 

 another three-quarters of an hour before leaving. The bird had 

 not returned during this time. 



June 26i/i. — Started again, on the ponies, after breakfast, and 

 pitched the tent on the shores of a quiet bay of a lake which we 

 had passed travelling up from Eeykjavik, in which I had noticed 

 a good many of these little Phalaropes, which are here quite 

 common. They now seemed less numerous, but there were still 

 a fair number, and, when Sigardsson had ridden off, I set myself 

 seriously to obEerve their habits. They swam about on the still 

 waters of the bay — it is now a calm, still evening, after deluges 

 of rain — in what, at first, seemed an aimless manner, continually 

 altering their course and making sudden little tacks and jerks, 

 all with a funny little nid-nodding motion, as if they were Moor- 

 hens " in little." It soon became apparent, however, that they 

 were feeding, and the only question then was on what. Nothing 

 was visible, but these as well as all the actions, could be explained 

 on the supposition that minute insects were the objects of pursuit, 

 and, since Mosquitos * were everywhere, it seemed likely that they 

 were the staple. As I continued to watch I observed some little 

 peckings in the air, and once there was an aerial pursuit on the 

 part of two of the birds, which presented the counterpart, during 

 the short time it lasted, of their movements in the water. Soon 

 a pair of Phalaropes, and then a third, came down quite close in 

 front of my tent, and, swimming to the bank, began to hunt 

 something right under it, then, coming out, any little patches of 

 weed were investigated, as well as rocks jutting out from the 

 shore, the birds sometimes walking over these. Wherever they 



* I hear now that they are Flies, and not really Mosquitos. But 

 as Mosquitos are really Flies, and as these Flies bite severely, I shall 

 continue to speak and to feel about them as if they really were. 



