212 
WADING BIRDS. 
bird, now before us, his transient visit, which delighted us, has 
ended ; but his migration, no longer to be postponed, has 
exceeded the bounds of the earth, and spring and autumn, 
with their wandering hosts of flitting birds, may still return, 
while he, translated to the Elysian groves, will only be remem- 
bered in the thrill of the plaintive nightingale. 
Wilson’s Phalarope, unlike the preceding, has no predilec- 
tion for the ultimate range of the Arctic Circle, confining its 
residence, consequently, to the shores of America; it is un- 
known in summer beyond the 55th parallel, passing the period 
of reproduction on the plains of the Saskatchewan, being also 
a stranger to the coasts of Hudson Bay. Taking the interior 
of the continent for its abode, it is not uncommon on the 
borders of lakes in the vicinity of the city of Mexico. 
From the structure of its legs and feet this remarkable 
species, so distinct from the others, appears more suited for a 
wading or walking than an eminent swimming bird. In the 
United States it can only be considered as a straggler, of which 
a specimen has been obtained near Philadelphia in May, and 
another in the State of New York. As yet we have never met 
with it in this vicinity. 
The •“ Swimming Sandpiper,” as this bird has been called, — a 
name that describes it precisely, — is restricted chiefly to the inte- 
rior, though stragglers have been taken on the shores of N ew Eng- 
land and the Provinces. It is now known to breed ainindantly in 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Dakota, and northward to the 
Saskatchewan valley. In winter the flocks range to Brazil and 
Patagonia. 
In habits the bird more closely resembles the Sandpipers than 
does its congeners, seldom swimming except when wounded, and 
wading knee-deep to glean its food. The female, however, with 
true Phalaropian scorn for the proprieties, manages her courtship, 
— and manages too her reluctant lover, — and after a brief — very 
brief — honeymoon, she resigns charge of domestic arrangements 
to her henpecked partner, who meekly sits on the eggs until they 
are hatched. 
