288 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
1913, seven were seen at a newly filled lake, 25 miles north of Roswell (Ligon). A 
pair were seen feeding August G, 1903, about the shores of a small rain lake on the 
summit of the Capitan Mountains at about 9,700 feet—2,000 feet higher than they 
usually range (Gaut). 
The species has been recorded a few times in New Mexico in the spring, the earliest 
being April 8, 1913, when one was taken at Beaver Lake, 7,500 feet; five were seen at 
the same place April 29, and seven, April 26, 1915, at Mayberry Lake, about GO miles 
west of Magdalena (Ligon). One was seen April 20, and another May 8, 1901, at 
Albuquerque (Birtwell), and one in April at Mesilla (Ford). At Chloride the first 
spring migrants noted were seen April 25, 1915, (Ligon). At Silver City a specimen 
was taken May 5, 1918, another, May 11, 1919, 25 miles southeast of Silver City 
(Kellogg). At Lake Burford a migrating flock of about 20, mostly males, was seen 
May 24, 1918, and at Hayden Lake, near by, a dozen were seen on May 27 (Wet- 
more).!—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Sometimes built over water but as a rule near sloughs with a fairly dry 
base in high grass, made of dead grass. Eggs: 4 to 8, gray and drab marked with 
brown and purple. 
Food. —In 106 stomachs examined, the vegetable food amounted to only 6.7 per 
cent; the animal, 93.3 per cent. The vegetable food was almost wholly seeds of 
aquatic or marsh plants. The animal included crustaceans—3.6 per cent; aquatic 
bugs, including weevils, 24.4 per cent; beetles, 20.1 per cent; flies, 43.1 per cent, 
including crane flies, alkali flies, gnats, horse flies, and mosquito larvae. The 
“apparent predilection for mosquito larvae” is particularly important as it breeds on 
fresh-water marshes, where they usually abound. 
General Habits. —There is a rare charm attaching to this bird 
of water and sky—dainty, exquisite creature pausing on its long journey 
to alight on some clear pool where it may be seen with slender neck 
arched, its plump body riding the water with easy grace, touches of 
color adding richness and elegance to its beautiful form. 
On the Phalarope’s breeding grounds in the prairie sloughs, when 
stocky Red-winged Blackbirds fly excitedly over the marsh grass where 
their young are in hiding, overhead the long-winged, able-winged crea¬ 
tures of the air, with pale legs projecting beyond their white fan tails, fly 
back and forth crying softly wek-ivek-wek-ivek-wek, anxiously guarding 
the secret of their nest. For although the species conforms to nature’s 
law that the more conspicuously plumaged member of the family does 
the wooing and the less conspicuous the brooding, the maternal instinct 
is strong in the breast of the female, and she joins her mate in expostu¬ 
lating with the invaders of their home. 
At a roadside basin of water on the arid plain near Las Vegas— 
an artificial pond stocked with carp and posted against shooting—on 
the last day of August, 1903, we found quite an assemblage of appreci¬ 
ative birds, one Northern Phalarope, several Yellow-legs, and a flock 
each of Black Terns and Wilson Phalaropes, partly in breeding plumage. 
The Terns and Phalaropes flew back and forth from one end of the pond 
to the other, diving unconcernedly only a few yards from us. Some¬ 
times they would point their bills down and plump in up to their 
