The Northern Phalarope 
If these creatures usually have as much difficulty in making up their 
mind to a certain course of action as did a flock I once observed at Santa 
Barbara, their tardiness may be more easily accounted for. A flock of 
about forty birds sighted over Laguna Blanca on the 29th of May, 1915, 
required about fifteen minutes to decide which particular spot of forty 
similar acres to settle on. But the birds were no sooner down than a Coot 
put them to flight; and it was all to do over again. Not less than two 
hundred times did this aggregation of incompetents weave to and fro 
before anything decisive was brought to pass. 
A study of the evolutions of this nonplussed flock raised many ques¬ 
tions which the doctors of psychology are not yet prepared to answer. 
What is the basis of leadership in flock movements? Is there a flock 
impulse, or a common consciousness? Are flock decisions put to vote? 
If so, does the majority rule? Or is unanimity necessary to social action? 
There is no one to tell us. 
It was noteworthy, in this case, that the flock did not describe an 
actual circle in flight, but that it (that is, each individual of it) reversed, 
about-faced sharply, at the end of each tack. The course of the flock was, 
therefore, roughly lens-shaped or fusiform. This evolution is more diffi¬ 
cult than a blind follow-your-leader turn, and one marvels at the signal 
code, be it visible, audible, tactile, or psychical, which guarantees an 
instant rebound of forty feathered bullets without catastrophe. 
Taken in Santa Barbara 
WALTZ TIME 
Photo by the Author 
1182 
