General Notes, 
tai ?w t ° rth R ern / hal r Pe - A Correction -I” "W article ‘Notes on Cer- 
tam W ate ' Birds in Massachusetts’ (Auk, XI, July, 1894), at end of 
third line from bottom of page 226, read Northern, for Red In last 
ri°irs, page 228> read ^ fo - m ^- g - h. m., ok ; y , 
Auk XI. Oct. 1864 p. 324 
Shore Birds of Cape Cod. 
John O. Oahoon. 
Northern Rhalarope, Phalaropus louatux 
(Linn.) Whale Bird on Cape Oort. A common 
spring migrant. This bird passes the Cape 
coast between the first and twenty-fifth of 
May. As this bird feeds and lives wholly in the i 
water, it may most properly be called a “sea 
bird.” It is irregular in its appearance in 
shore, and it is only after a heavy storm on 
shore or thick fog that it is seen in the bays, 
harbors, and inlets of Cape Cod. The men that 
go ten to twenty miles from shore in boats cod- 
fishing in the spring, report seeing many flocks 
of “whale birds” as they call them. I have 
| seen them when on a fishing schooner on sev- 
eral occasions in large flocks feeding on some 
kind of substance that they got from the large 
masses of floating sea and rock weed. They 
are very tame, especially in foggy weather, and 
will allow one to approach within a few yards, 
in a boat, before they will fly. They are pretty 
to see, as they float or swim gracefully and 
lightly on the water. One of the flock will 
leave the others and fly a short distance ahead 
and alight on the water, and a second, third, 
and fourth will follow, and so on. In this man- 
ner, many of the flock are always in motion. 
When they come in about Monomoy Island, 
they are usually seen in the tide rips off the 
I point, and near the cut through which the out 
tide flows through the Island into the bay from 
the ocean. 
Q.& O. XIII. Aug. 1838 p. 124.. 
Phalaropus 1 oh at us . 
Nantucket, Mass. 
1873. Mr Sweet gave rae one shot on the island, Sept. 22 
Sept .24. 
V 
