42 
BULLETIN OF THE NUTT ALL 
salute each other by alternately bowing or lowering their heads ; 
but their courtship is characterized by a lack of the rivalry and 
vehemence usually exhibited by birds. A male is often accompa- 
nied by two females at first, but as soon as his choice is made the 
rejected bird joins her fortunes with some more impressible swain. 
The nesting-site is usually in some thin tuft of grass on a level 
spot, but often in an open place concealed by only a few straggling 
blades of small carices. The male scratches a shallow depression in 
the soft earth, which is usually lined with a thin layer of fragments 
of old grass blades, upon which the eggs, numbering from three to 
four, are deposited about the last of May or first of June. Owing 
to the low situations in which the nests are placed, the first set of 
eggs is often destroyed by a heavy fall of rain, causing the water 
to rise so as to submerge the nest. In this case the second set, 
numbering two or three, are often deposited in a depression 
scratched in the ground, as at first, but with no sign of any 
lining. Accidents of this kind cause the second set of eggs to be 
sometimes deposited as late as the last of June. 
The young usually appear about the third week of June, and are 
able to fly in about three weeks. Generally a number of pairs nest 
upon the same marsh. In some instances as many as fifty may be' 
counted within the radius of a mile ; but, notwithstanding this, 
their nests are extremely difficult to discover, the material and 
the color of the eggs correspond so closely to the appearance of 
the surrounding surface. If they are disturbed while building, 
the nest is usually abandoned. Incubation is attended to by the 
male alone.* The female, however, keeps near, and is quick to 
give the alarm upon the approach of danger. The females are fre- 
quently found at this time in small parties of six or eight; and 
should their breeding-ground be approached, exhibit great anxiety, 
coming from every part of the marsh to meet the intruder, and, hover- 
ing over his head, utter a weak nasal note, which can be heard to 
* [As above stated by Mr. Nelson, Mr. Knmlien was the first to call atten- 
tion to this fact, as regards the present species, as well as to the fact of the 
female being larger and brighter-colored than the male. European authors 
have recorded the same sexual peculiarities of plumage in the Eed and the 
Northern Phalaropes {Phalaropus fulicarius dijidt. Lobipes hyperhoreus)^ and also, 
in respect to the former, that the male alone undertakes the duties of incubation. 
In these species the male is said to show much greater devotion to the young, 
when exposed to danger, than does the female. — J. A. Allen.] 
