4 BULLETIN 1359, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the control of injurious insects. The flies are not known to be of 
economic importance, and the crustaceans have value merely as 
food for other animals. From this review it may be seen that the 
red phalarope is entirely harmless and should be protected when it 
chances to occur within our boundaries. 
NORTHERN PHALAROPE 
Lobipes lobatus 
Like the preceding species, the northern phalarope (PI. I) nests in 
the Northern Hemisphere in both Old and New Worlds. In North 
America the breeding range extends from the Near Islands in the 
Aleutian Chain across to eastern Greenland, and from Melville Island 
south to the delta of the Yukon and to Rupert House, Ontario. The 
place and extent of the winter home of the northern phalarope at 
E resent is uncertain, though it is supposed that at this season the 
irds remain at sea in the Southern Hemisphere. They have been 
noted casually on the coasts of Patagonia and Peru, but on the whole 
are unknown after they leave our shores. In migration they occur 
casually throughout our country save in the States bordering the 
Gulf of Mexico, but are more abundant near the eastern and western 
coasts, and great numbers pass through the interior by way of Great 
Salt Lake, Utah. 
In migration these phalaropes often gather in great flocks where 
food is abundant. On reaching their breeding grounds in the north, 
they pair off to nest in marshy spots or near small fresh-water lakes I 
in the tundras. On Kiska Island in the Aleutians in June, the writer 
found them breeding about innumerable shallow lakes in the small 
valleys that lead back from the beaches of the deeper 1)ays. The i 
eggs, four in number, were placed in shallow nests concealed in grass ) 
8 or 10 inches high. Adults were greatly excited by intruders and 
flew swiftly about calling sharply. Many fed in the surf, often riding 
the waves until these were about to break, when to avoid being dashed 
on the sand they rose lightly in the air and flew out a few feet to a 
point of safety. Both sexes go through curious gyrations on the 
water surface, whirling rapidly about and nodding the head. 
Domestic cares after the eggs have been deposited devolve entirely 
upon the willing males, and many of the females depart southward 
at once, to be followed by males and young when the latter are able 
to fly. The northward migration in L'tah does not end until the 
middle of June, and by the Lrst week in July females begin to return 
from the north. The southward movement continues from July 
through the month of October. 
Northern phalaropes swim as readily as ducks and secure much of 
their food from the water. Little flocks alight on the surface, and 
the individuals, separating 12 or 15 feet from one another, begin to 
quarter back and forth in search of food. They swim rapidly with 
quickly nodding heads, jabbing constantly at any morsels that aopear 
within reach. When thus occupied the course pursued by individual 
birds is most erratic, as they turn constantly from side to side or 
whirl quickly about as food appears within reach behind them or at 
one side. Occasionally they run about on mud bars or beaches like 
other sandpipers, or when tilled to repletion gather in the shallows, 
where they bathe or stand about resting, caring for their feathers, or 
sleeping. 
