The Wilson Phalarope 
As it happened once, so it happened a dozen times; and a like experi¬ 
ence befell not only upon each of two succeeding Junes, but it has been 
practically repeated every season since, where Wilson Phalaropes have 
been encountered at all. Others testify to the same experience. Mr. 
Robert E. Rockwell, writing of the Barr Lake region, in Colorado, de¬ 
clares this Phalarope to be “the most baffling bird as regards nesting 
habits with which our field work has brought us in contact.” 1 He says 
further: “That the nests are wonderfully well concealed both through 
protective coloration of the eggs and through the cunning of the parent 
Taken in Fresno County Photo by the Author 
AN ANXIOUS FATHER 
birds, is beyond question; yet this alone would hardly explain our lack of 
success in finding the nests; for had the birds been actually nesting in the 
numbers their relative abundance would seem to indicate, it would hardly 
have been possible for us to fail in our search so consistently.” And he 
offers the suggestion that the local summer population contains a large 
admixture of non-breeding birds who, nevertheless, evince an interest in 
118/ 
Condor, Vol. XIV., p. 122. 
