122 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIV 
'I'he young are covered with coarse black down, with a bald spot on the top 
of their heads of a livid red color. They swim with wonderful strength and 
speed, a baby only a couple of days old swimming almost as fast as a man 
can walk. They take advantage of natural cover much as the young grebes do, 
but seem less wild than any of the other young wild birds. 
Steganopus tricolor. W ilson I’ji.vl.vrope. 
The most baffling bird as regards nesting habits with which our field work- 
brought ns in contact was this pretty phalarope. In point of numbers they were 
second only to the Killdeer among the shore birds, and throughout the nesting 
sea.son there was hardly a trip in which we did not encounter parent birds whose 
actions made it plain that we were very close to their nests ; yet in all these trips 
49 . FREAK NEST OF COOT COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF 
VELI.OW WEIOD STALKS 
scattered over several years, the writer has been favored with the sight of but two 
nc.sts. 
The birds arrived late in .\])ril and by May 10 were seen in goodly numbers, 
usually in flocks of fifty or more. A week or two later the birds were still in 
flocks l)Ut were apparently mated. During 1906 evidences of nesting were not 
noted until June 10; in 1907 no anxious parents were noted until June 15 ; but in 
1908 the birds were unusually numerous and showed every indication of the prox- 
imity of nests as early as ]\Iay 29. In fact one of the two nests mentioned above 
was found June 16, and on that date contained three young just hatched and one 
egg which was afterward found to contain a fully developed dead embryo. This 
uest was a .scanty affair of dry grass built in sparse marsh grass fully 100 feet 
