The Northern Phalarope 
on a day during the August migrations I have seen the tepid waters teem¬ 
ing with “insect” life to a degree almost unimaginable. The upper strata 
of a six-inch shallow held bugs or wriggling creatures of at least twenty 
sorts visible to the naked eye; and of these, ten kinds might be distin¬ 
guished in a single cubic inch. The lowermost stratum seemed a solid 
mass of living creatures, while the spaces between, though comparably 
clear to the eyes, must have been crowded with bacterial life adequate to 
the support of the visible hosts. Into one of these channels of liquid 
aliment, huge earthen platters containing soup of a richness beyond human 
desire, come the Phalaropes to feast and fatten. They come after long 
fasting, perhaps, and as they settle upon the water they begin to rush 
about like excited schoolboys under a chestnut tree. Each bird gives 
a grunt of greedy satisfaction between mouthfuls, so that a curious 
Taken in Santa Barbara Photo by the Author 
THE RACE 
gabbling chorus, or plunder song, rises. This strange music of the chase 
is instantly hushed at the approach of danger, and it can be heard to 
advantage only from behind a screen ot reeds or salicornia. 
At a table so rich the Northern Phalarope cannot practice the rhyth¬ 
mical swing-and-dip which characterizes the pursuit of food limited to one 
kind. He soon learns to be fastidious, and plows through lesser provender 
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