The Wi Iso n Pha la rope 
Authorities.—Coues (Phalaropus wilsoni), Ibis, 2nd Ser., ii., 1866, p. 263 
(Colo. R.); Townsend, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. x., 1887, p. 198 (Lassen Co., June); 
Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 35, 1910, p. 18 (distr. and migr.) ■,Bowles, 
Auk, vol. xxviii., 1911, p. 171 (Santa Barbara); Ray, Condor, vol. xv., 1913, p. 111 
(Tahoe; desc. and photo of nest, eggs); Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, Game Birds 
Calif., 1918, p. 332 (desc., occurrence, habits, etc.). 
OF ALL birds wearing feathers—and that’s exactly all of them, since 
the Grecian plucked a rooster to make “Plato’s man”—the Wilson Phala- 
rope is the most exasperating. This is a harsh judgment to pass on so 
gentle a bird, and argues a certain narrow-mindedness,—a narrow¬ 
mindedness which the author hastens to admit, for it is that of the now 
nearly extinct genus, oologist. 
Our first encounter with the Wilson Phalarope befell in a northern 
swamp on the 1st of June, 1905. We had been wading in hip boots after 
Western Grebe portraits, and had reached that point just off shore where the 
boots ceased to splash, but still made a noise like bovine osculation, when 
we came upon four Phalaropes, two males and two females. The females 
of this species are the original militant suffragettes. But they are no 
Taken in Inyo County 
A NESTING HAUNT NEAR BISHOP 
Photo by the Author 
