210 
WADING BIRDS. 
vicinity, that nine or ten individuals were killed out of it at a 
single shot] these were nearly all old birds, and on being 
eaten proved quite palatable. Mr. Audubon informs me that 
in the month of May last (1833), he met with flocks of these 
Phalaropes about four miles out at sea off the Magdalen 
Islands, where they are known to the fishermen by the name of 
Sea Geese,” appearing more or less every year. At this time 
they were in very dense flocks of about one hundred together, 
so close as nearly or wholly to touch each other. On being 
approached they were very shy and wild, and as they rose to 
fly, in the manner of the Sandpipers, uttered a faint, clear cry 
of 'twee 'tweet. Like I'ringas, too, they alight on the shore or 
the ground, and run with agility. They also at times settle on 
the driftweed and Fud in order to glean up any insects which 
may occur. They squat on the ground like Snipes. 
It is remarkable enough that all these flocks consisted of 
birds of both sexes assembling to breed and in imperfect 
plumage. In none were the sides and front of the neck 
wholly red. They had a broad patch of red below the ears, 
not extending in front, and the blackish gray feathers of the 
back and scapulars were edged, in the latter, nearly round 
with pale dull rufous. I'he females were paler in all parts, 
the scapulars merely edged with whitish rufous. The brightest 
of these birds answers to Temminck’s description of the 
female of the species, while Bonaparte asserts that the fe- 
males are always much brighter or redder than the males in 
their most complete plumage. VVe have, therefore, the follow- 
ing distinct stages of appearance in this species : The young op 
the year; the young of the second year, differing in the 
appearance of the sexes ; the adults of both sexes (probably 
not then wholly alike) ; and finally the gray lively of ivinter, 
distributed according to the variations in the preceding plumage. 
We shall then have, at this rate, six or seven different states of 
plumage to this single species of Phalarope. 
This species breeds in the Far North, and is met with off our 
coasts as the flocks journey to and from their winter quarters in 
the tropics. 
