The Red Phalarope 
Taken in Merced County 
the nrst tnree operations 
follow in automatic se¬ 
quence as the result of 
one volition, we have at 
least four volitions for 
each cycle,—twenty per 
second — rather rapid 
thinking! “The birds 
are fast livers, and they 
void the cloaca at inter¬ 
vals of two or three min¬ 
utes, roughly guessed. 
The excreta are chiefly 
vivid rose red with an 
attendant portion of 
pure white—the same 
in color, by the way, as 
that cast by the Murres 
on the east wall of Shu- 
brick point. 
“As I said, these 
birds will do anything 
for me. By stealthy ap¬ 
proach and good behav¬ 
ior I have won their 
complete confidence, 
taking all the pictures 
wanted at focal length, 
the birds passing repeat¬ 
edly within that distance as the camera is pointed diagonally down 
at them. After using up my plates I lay down by the water’s edge, 
and the birds repeatedly came nearer to my face than my hands were. 
Also when 1 stretched my hand out slowly into the water, they came 
within a foot of it, and, once, within six inches. And yet they are per¬ 
fectly cognizant of the birdman’s presence, and give a little start or 
warning peep every time an unusual movement occurs, or the slightest 
sound escapes me.” 
We are told that these birds breed in immense numbers within the 
Arctic Circle, and that they are invariably found among those breeding 
farthest north. Their presence, also, is characteristic of open water any¬ 
where in the Arctic Ocean; and it is hailed with delight by whalers as being 
a good indication of the near presence of some large cetacean, especially of 
id nolo toy uic xiiunor 
SPRING CLOTHES 
NORTHERN PHALAROPE IN BREEDING PLUMAGE 
