The Red Phalarope. 
About the twenty-first of May, a large 
flight of these birds while passing Cape Cod 
were driven in and quite a number secured. 
The plumage was full. Captain Gould says, 
“ There was a large flight yesterday ( 21 st) and 
I collected quite a number. I never saw as 
many. They were seen along the beach in all 
directions. The government telephone wire 
•was certain death to many, numbers being 
killed between here (Chatham) and Monomoy. 
We found over forty within four hundred 
yards of the station, but they were useless, 
being torn and wingless from flying against 
the wires. The following day not one was 
seen.” 
This bird is very hard to obtain, not on 
account of its being rare, but because it flies 
outside, beyond the reach of the collectors. 
Another party sent us in some twenty-five, a 
part of a lot that he had received from 
Provincetown. There were a very few of the 
Northern Plialaropes with them. 
The proportion of males in the entire lot 
was about three to one and there were but two 
in the white plumage. The birds were not as 
fat as is usually the case. Reports were 
received of single specimens being taken along 
the coast. F. B. W. 
M 4 
General Notes. 
[April 
two at 3 p. m., one between three and four, and five during the following 
hour, the last being in lat. 43° 25', or 27 miles N. E. by E. half E. from 
the point of first observation. All were flying E. by N. 
I he following morning, May 26, observations were commenced at four 
o’clock, but no Phalaropes were seen until 5 a. m. when small bunches, 
estimated to contain, in all, twenty-five birds passed, flying E. by S. A 
single pair was seen at 1 P. M., and ten were recorded at two o’clock. 
Single birds were noted at 4 and 6 p. m., and an estimated number of 
thirty was recorded at the end of the following hour. At 8 P. M. a flock 
of ten or twelve was heard as they flew overhead, passing south. The 
position of the first record of the day was lat. 43 0 30', long. 68° 25', and 
the distance between the extreme stations of observation was 82 miles, 
the latitude of the latter being 43 0 47', and the longitude, 66° 33', or a 
position 18 miles N. W. by W. of Gannet Rock. 
On the morning of the 27th we were in sight of this island, and as it 
was nearly calm all day, we only succeeded in passing Cape Sable by sun- 
et. During the entire morning Phalaropes were seen coming from up 
he bay and flying southerly, or out to the open ocean. They were in 
Phalarope ( Crymophilus fulicarius ),— During a 
O Vol. 17, July, 1892 P.IOQ Gulf of St. Lawrence last spring, I gained con- 
siderable information concerning the migration of the Red Phalarope. I 
sailed from Gloucester on May 24, and the first Phalaropes were seen on 
the following day, being more or less abundant until reaching Cape 
Breton Island. They were not again seen until, passing Cape North, we 
entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The exact position of the first birds 
seen was lat. 43° 2 1 , long. 69° 13', or 132 miles W. by N. of Seal Island 
on the Nova Scotia coast. At this point seven were seen at 11 A. m., 
yards night it 
in rafts upon 
gunshot, fly a 
seemed to be 
e at that par- 
rning of May 
‘jogging’ off 
f threatening 
the morning, 
from two to 
:o sea. 
itering Liver- 
>f Phalaropes 
sntly settling 
51, a number 
seen between 
irly as abun- 
to the east- 
Phalaropes. 
i, and twelve 
>ing to feed. 
,,1U,C werc seen untu we passed Cape Canso and were off Chedabucto 
Bay on June 3, when one was seen flying south at 4.30, and three flying 
east at 5 r. m., they being the last that were noted until rounding Cape 
North from the eastward, and although I inquired of fishermen at various 
times, especially at Louisbourg, off Scatari, at Sidney, and at Inganish, 
I failed to hear of any except a very few stragglers off Scatari Island on 
the 5th or 6th. I questioned very closely at Inganish and found that 
these birds usually passed that place, but had not been seen this year. As 
