Chapter II: Introduction (1)

This is the seventh in a series of bulletins of the United States National Museum on the life histories of North American birds. Previous numbers have been issued as follows:

107. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, August 1, 1919.

113. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, August 27,
1921.

121. Life Histories of North American Petrels, Pelicans and their
Allies, October 19, 1922.

126. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl, May 25, 1923.

130. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl, June 27, 1925.

135. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, "1926." (=
March 11, 1927).

The same general plan has been followed, as explained in previous bulletins, and the same sources of information have been utilized.

The classification and nomenclature adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union, in its latest check list and its supplements, have been followed, mainly, with such few changes as, in the author's opinion, will be, or should be, made to bring the work up to date, and in line with recent advances in the science.

The main ranges are as accurately outlined as limited space will permit; the normal migrations are given in sufficient detail to indicate the usual movements of the species; no attempt has been made to give all records, for economy in space, and no pretense at complete perfection is claimed. Many published records, often repeated, have been investigated and discarded; many apparently doubtful records have been verified; some published records, impossible to either verify or disprove, have been accepted if the evidence seemed to warrant it.

The egg dates are the condensed results of a mass of records taken from the data in a large number of the best egg collections in the country, as well as from contributed field notes and from a few published sources. They indicate the dates on which eggs have been actually found in various parts of the country, showing the earliest and latest dates and the limits between which half the dates fall, the height of the season.

The plumages are described only in enough detail to enable the reader to trace the sequence of molts and plumages from birth to maturity and to recognize the birds in the different stages and at the different seasons. No attempt has been made to fully describe adult plumages; this has been already well done in the many manuals. The names of colors, when in quotation marks, are taken from Ridgway's Color Standards and Nomenclature (1912) and the terms used to describe the shapes of eggs are taken from his Nomenclature of Colors (1886 edition). The heavy-faced type in the measurements of eggs indicates the four extremes of measurements.

Many of those who contributed material for former volumes have rendered a similar service in this case. In addition to those whose contributions have been acknowledged previously, our thanks are due to the following new contributors: Photographs, notes, or data have been contributed by W. B. Alexander, Clark Blickensderfer, C. E. Chapman, Karl Christofferson, C. W. Colthrup, Walter Colvin, W. M. Congreve, Joseph Dixon, J. G. Gordon, S. A. Grimes, W. C. Herman, Frank Howland, W. I. Lyon, T. R. Miley, D. J. Nicholson, R. H. Rauch, Russell Richardson, jr., W. A. Smith, J. D. Soper, E. S. Thomas, M. B. Trautman, C. F. Walker, F. M. Weston, H. F. Witherby, A. H. Wood, jr., and C. J. Young.

Receipt of material from over 250 contributors has been acknowledged in previous volumes.

Through the courtesy of the Biological Survey, the services of Frederick C. Lincoln were secured to compile the distribution paragraphs. With the matchless reference files of the Biological Survey at his disposal and with some advice and help from Dr. Harry C. Oberholser, his many hours of careful and thorough work have produced results far more satisfactory than could have been attained by the author, who claims no credit and assumes no responsibility for this part of the work. The few minor changes made in the system do not materially alter the general plan.

Dr. Charles W. Townsend has written the life histories of two species and the Rev. Francis C. R. Jourdain, a well-known British authority, has contributed the life histories and the distributions of six Old World species, which are known to us only as rare stragglers. Mr. J. H. Riley has furnished descriptions and measurements of some rare eggs in the National Museum. We are indebted to Mr. H. F. Witherby for the loan of the valuable photographs of the knot, taken by Admiral Peary, which the author publishes at his own risk, without permission.

As most of the shore birds are known to us mainly, or entirely, as migrants it has seemed desirable to describe their migrations quite fully. As it is a well-known fact that many, if not all, immature and nonbreeding shore birds remain far south of their breeding ranges all summer it has not seemed necessary to mention this in each case. Nor did it seem necessary to say that only one brood is raised in a season, as this is a nearly universal rule with all water birds.

The manuscript for this volume was completed in March, 1927. Contributions received since then will be acknowledged later. Only information of great importance could be added. When this volume appears contributions of photographs or notes relating to the gallinaceous birds should be sent to

THE AUTHOR.

_Life Histories of_

North American

Shore Birds

LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN SHORE BIRDS

ORDER LIMICOLAE (PART 1)

By ARTHUR CLEVELAND BENT

_Of Taunton, Massachusetts_

Family PHALAROPODIDAE, Phalaropes

PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS (Linnaeus)

RED PHALAROPE

HABITS

The female red phalarope in her full nuptial plumage is, to my mind, the handsomest, certainly the most richly colored, of the three known species of phalaropes. The species is cosmopolitan, with a circumpolar breeding range; it is apparently homogeneous throughout its wide range except for a local race, breeding in Spitsbergen, which has been separated and named _Phalaropus fulicarius jourdaini_ Iredale; this race is said to have paler edgings on the back, scapulars, and tertials. The species is commonly known abroad as the grey phalarope, an appropriate name for the bird in its winter plumage, in which it is most often seen.

It is less often seen in the United States than the other two species; its summer home is so far north that it is beyond the reach of most of us; and at other seasons it is much more pelagic than the other species, migrating and apparently spending the winter far out on the open sea, often a hundred miles or more from land. It seldom comes ashore on the mainland except when driven in by thick weather or a severe storm. Hence it is an apparently rare bird to most of us. But in its arctic summer home it is exceedingly abundant. Alfred M. Bailey (1925) says that "this was the most abundant of the shore birds at Wales, as at Wainwright, Alaska. As a person walks over the tundra there is a continual string of those handsome birds rising from the grass." Again he writes:

At Whalen, near East Cape, Siberia, we saw thousands of these
beautiful little fellows on July 11. The day was very disagreeable,
with a strong wind off the ice and a drizzling rain. From the ship
we could see waves of birds rising some distance off in such dense
flocks that individuals could not be distinguished; the mass looked
like a long, thin cloud swirling before the wind; one end of the
line rose high in the air, while the other end swerved nearer to
the water. They swung about with the erratic movements and
wave-like flight so characteristic of black skimmers, now high in
the air, again low over the water. As we worked along the shore,
thousands that were feeding close along the beach rose and flew
across the sand spit in front of us. There was a continual stream
of them drifting by, like so much sand before a strong wind. They
were, at this time, beginning to molt their breeding plumage.

_Spring._--The migrations of the red phalarope are mainly at sea, usually far out from land. During the month of May enormous flocks may be seen on the ocean off the coasts of New England, but it is only during stress of weather that they are driven inshore. I can well remember a big storm, on May 21, 1892, which brought a large flight of these birds into Cape Cod Bay; Nat Gould killed a large number that day on Monomoy Island and I shot one at Plymouth Beach; others were taken at Provincetown. In pleasant weather these birds are well at home on the heaving bosom of the ocean, flying about in flocks, twisting, turning, and wheeling like flocks of sandpipers, or resting or feeding on the drifting rafts of seaweeds. On the Pacific coast these birds are even more abundant, if one goes far enough offshore to see them during April and May. They often congregate in considerable numbers about the Farallon Islands. W. Leon Dawson (1923) has drawn a graphic picture of them there, as follows:

Here in late spring thousands of these birds ride at anchor in the
lee of the main island, along with other thousands of the other
northern species, _Lobipes lobatus_. Of these some few scores are
driven ashore by hunger and seek their sustenance in brackish
pools, or else battle with the breakers in the little "bight" of
the rocky lee shore. The date is May 23, and the company under
survey numbers a few brilliant red birds in high plumage among the
scores in unchanged gray, together with others exhibiting every
intermediate gradation. When to this variety is added a similar
diversity among the northerns, which mingle indiscriminately with
them, you have a motley company--no two birds alike. Ho! but these
are agile surfmen! Never, save in the case of the wandering tattler
and the American dipper, have I seen such absolute disregard of
danger and such instant adjustment to watery circumstance. Here are
30 of these phalaropes "fine mixed," threading a narrow passage in
the reefs where danger threatens in the minutest fraction of a
second. Crash! comes a comber. Our little world is obliterated in
foam. Sea anemones and rock oysters sputter and choke, and there is
a fine fury of readjustment. But the phalaropes rise automatically,
clear the crest of the crasher, and are down again, preening their
feathers or snatching dainties with the utmost unconcern. Now a
bird is left stranded on a reef, or now he is whisked and whirled a
dozen feet away. All right, if he likes it; but if not, he is back
again, automatically, at the old rendezvous. Life goes on right
merrily in spite of these shocking interruptions. Food getting is
the main business, and this is pursued with extraordinary ardor.
The bird's tiny feet kick the water violently, and there is the
tiniest compensatory bob for every stroke, so that their little
bodies seem all a tremble. There seems to be no difference of
opinion between the two species, but there is time for a good deal
of amatory play between the sexes of the reds. It is always the
bright-colored female who makes the advances, for the wanton
phalaropes have revised nature's order, and the modest male either
seeks escape by flight, or else defends himself with determined
dabs. Here is the authentic lady for whom Shakespeare's "pilgrim"
sighed.

Of their arrival on their breeding grounds in northern Alaska, E. W. Nelson (1887) writes:

It is much more gregarious than its relative, and for a week or two
after its first arrival 50 or more flock together. These flocks
were very numerous the 1st of June, 1879, at the Yukon mouth, where
I had an excellent opportunity to observe them. In the morning the
birds which were paired could be found scattered here and there, by
twos, over the slightly flooded grassy flats. At times these pairs
would rise and fly a short distance, the female, easily known by
her bright colors and larger size, in advance, and uttering now and
then a low and musical "clink, clink," sounding very much like the
noise made by lightly tapping together two small bars of steel.
When disturbed these notes were repeated oftener and became harder
and louder. A little later in the day, as their hunger became
satisfied, they began to unite into parties until 15 or 20 birds
would rise and pursue an erratic course over the flat. As they
passed swiftly along stray individuals and pairs might be seen to
spring up and join the flock. Other flocks would rise and the
smaller coalesce with the larger until from two hundred to three or
even four hundred birds were gathered in a single flock. As the
size of the flock increased its movements became more and more
irregular. At one moment they would glide straight along the
ground, then change to a wayward flight, back and forth, twisting
about with such rapidity that it was difficult to follow them with
the eye. Suddenly their course would change, and the compact flock,
as if animated by a single impulse, would rise high over head, and,
after a series of graceful and swift evolutions, come sweeping down
with a loud, rushing sound to resume their playful course near the
ground. During all their motions the entire flock moves in such
unison that the alternate flashing of the underside of their wings
and the dark color of the back, like the play of light and shade,
makes a beautiful spectacle. When wearied of their sport the flock
disbands and the birds again resume their feeding.

_Courtship._--The well-known reversal of sexual characters in the phalaropes makes their courtship particularly interesting, as the large, handsome females press their ardent suits against the timid and dull-colored little males. A. L. V. Manniche (1910) has given us the best account of it, as follows:

June 19, 1907, early in the morning, I had the pleasure of watching
for hours the actions of a loving couple of phalaropes on the beach
of a pool surrounded by large sedge tufts, covered with long,
withered grass. This act I found very funny, peculiar, and
charming. When the male had been eagerly searching for food for
some 20 minutes, often standing on his head in the water, like a
duck, to fish or pick up something from the bottom, he would lie
down on a tuft, stretching out his one leg and his one wing as if
he would fully enjoy the rest after his exertions. The female for
some moments was lying quietly and mutely in the middle of the
pool; suddenly she began with increasing rapidity to whirl around
on the surface of the water, always in the same little circle, the
diameter of which was some 10 centimeters. As the male seemed to
pay no attention to her alluring movements, she flew rapidly up to
him--producing as she left the water a peculiar whirling sound with
her wings and uttering short angry cries--pushed him with her bill,
and then she returned to the water and took up her swimming dance.
Now the male came out to her, and the two birds whirled around for
some moments equally eager and with increasing rapidity. Uttering a
short call, the female again flew to a tuft surrounded by water and
waited some seconds in vain for the male; again she flew to the
water to induce him with eager pushes and thumps to accompany her.
They again whirled violently around, whereafter she, uttering a
strong, alluring sound, flew back to the tuft, this time
accompanied by the male--and the pairing immediately took place. In
the matrimony of the grey phalarope the female only decides. She
exceeds the male in size and brilliancy of plumage and has the
decisive power in all family affairs. If she wants to shift her
place of residence she flies up swift as an arrow with a commanding
cry--which may be expressed as "_pittss_"--and if the male does not
follow her at once she will immediately return and give him a
severe punishment, which never fails to have the desired effect. It
is a well-known fact that she completely ignores her eggs and young
ones.

_Nesting._--The same author describes the nesting habits of this species, in northeast Greenland, as follows:

It is peculiar, that the male has well-marked breeding spots before
the breeding begins and certainly before the female has laid her
first egg; but this fact has been proved by several solid
examinations. June 26, 1907, I observed on the beach of the
Bjergandeso in the Stormkap district, that the nest building was
executed by the male. He was busy in building the nest on a low
bank covered with short grass, while she paid no attention to his
labor, but swam around the beach searching food. The male shaped a
nest hollow by turning round his body against the ground on the
place selected, having first by aid of the feet scraped away and
trampled down the longest and most troublesome straws. He
diligently used feet and bill at the same time to arrange the
shorter fine straws, which are carefully bent into the nest hollow
and form the lining of this. The nest was much smaller than that of
_Tringa alpina_ and contained one egg the next day. Along the
beaches of a smaller lake not far from the ship's harbor I saw,
June 30, three solitary swimming males, at least one of which
showed signs of having a nest. I soon found this close to the place
of residence of the male in question. The nest contained four fresh
eggs and was built in exactly the same way as the before-mentioned
nest. The male proved so far from being shy, that he could be
driven to his nest and merely be caught by hand; having laid
himself upon the nest he was still more fearless.

A breeding phalarope will lie motionless with his head pressed
deep down against his back. He is almost fully covered by straws,
which surround the nest, as he with the bill bends these over
himself, besides he is so similar to the surroundings that no
human eye is able to distinguish him from these, if the spot is
not known beforehand.

July 9, 1907, I again found a phalarope's nest by the Bjergandeso;
it contained four fresh eggs and was built a little differently
from the two before-mentioned nests. These were found close to a
lake on low banks covered with short grass, but this one was built
on a tuft covered with long, withered grass, situated some 10
meters from the real lake, but surrounded by shallow water, that
came from a little river running out from the lake and irrigating
all the tufts, one of which contained the nest. This bird also kept
very close on the nest, and did not leave it before I parted the
long grass with my foot. When frightened up from the nest the bird
for a short while lay screaming and flapping on the water not far
from me; thereupon he flew away, silently and rapidly, to land on
the opposite side of the lake. Having been absent for some five
minutes he returned just as rapidly, flew a good way to the other
side of the nest, sat down, and kept quiet for a couple of minutes,
whereafter he again flew up and took the earth some 20 meters from
the nest, which he then rapidly approached walking and swimming
hidden by aquatic plants and tufts. All this was done in order to
mislead me, who was lying some 15 meters from the nest without any
shelter and therefore seen by the bird all the while.

C. W. G. Eifrig (1905) found the red phalarope breeding very commonly around Cape Fullerton and Southampton Island, Hudson Bay. "They nest around fresh water ponds, laying their eggs, without nesting material, in depressions in the sand or moss, often in lichens." John Murdoch (1885), on the other hand, says, at Point Barrow, Alaska, that--

The nest is always in the grass, never in the black or mossy
portions of the tundra, and usually in a pretty wet situation,
though a nest was occasionally found high and dry, in a place where
the nest of the pectoral sandpiper would be looked for. A favorite
nesting site was a narrow grassy isthmus between two of the shallow
ponds. The nest is a very slight affair of dried grass and always
well concealed.

In the Kotzebue Sound region Joseph Grinnell (1900) found three nests, of which he says:

The nests were all on higher ground and at a distance of 100 yards
or more from the lagoons where the birds usually congregated for
feeding and social purposes. The three nests agreed in situation,
being rather deep depressions sunk into the tops of mossy hummocks.
There was a thin lining of dry grasses, and in one case the
drooping blades from an adjoining clump of grass partially
concealed the nest from view from above.

Miss Maud D. Haviland (1915) relates her experience with the nesting habits of this species, at the mouth of the Yenesei River, Siberia, as follows:

I found the first nest on Golchika Island early in July. My
attention was called to it by the male bird, which flew round
uneasily. Even when the nesting ground is invaded, this phalarope
is very quiet and not very demonstrative. He flits round the
intruder with a peculiar silent flight, rather like a big red moth,
while he utters his chirruping alarm note--"_zhit zhit_." This call
is shriller than that of _Phalaropus lobatus_, and quite
recognizable where the two species breed side by side. I sat down
on a log of driftwood, and in about half an hour was able to flush
the bird from four fresh eggs. This nest, however, was not placed
very well for photography, for about 50 yards away was a turf hut,
which a Russian family had just taken possession of for the summer,
and I dared not leave the hiding tent or apparatus near the spot.
On the following day I was more fortunate, and found a nest which
was also on the island but about half a verst away. It was in
rather a dryer situation than the last, but like all the nests of
this species that I saw, the eggs lay on quite a substantial
platform of dead grass. In other cases the sites were so wet that
the bird must have been sitting actually in water--and the
photographer would have had to do likewise! In the photograph, the
grass has been parted in order to show the eggs, but before this
was done they were screened as carefully as the eggs of a redshank
or reeve.

I pitched the tent at once, and went in to hide. The male phalarope
stood on a tussock about 20 yards away and watched attentively, I
should not thus have tackled the nest of any other wader, but I
relied upon the confidence and simplicity of the phalarope, and I
did not rely upon them in vain. In about 20 minutes I caught sight
of the bird creeping round the tent, and a few minutes later he
settled down upon the eggs. In this, my first glimpse of a grey
phalarope at close quarters, two points struck me forcibly. One was
the apparent extraordinary length of the bird. The single pair of
legs in the middle seemed quite insufficient to support so long a
body, and with his quaint perky gait, it seemed as if the bird
swayed to and fro upon cee springs as he walked. The other was the
peculiar harmony of the color of the mantle with the grass around,
bleached or blackened by snow and thaw. The long, bladelike form of
the secondary feathers, and the buff longitudinal shoulder bands
seemed to emphasize the scheme until the bird was almost
indistinguishable from his surroundings.

Herbert W. Brandt in his manuscript notes says:

The nest of the red phalarope is built either on dry ground or over
shallow grass-grown water and is well concealed. Leading away from
it usually are one or more runways which are either tunneled or
open. The nest is fragile and very loosely made. The interior is
moulded into a cup shape and the structure is made of grasses and
often lined with moss stems, small leaves of the dwarf birch,
cranberry, and other small, crisp leaves found there. Frequently,
however, a simple depression in the moss or grass suffices to serve
for the nursery. The range of measurements of 18 nests is: Height 3
to 5 inches; inside diameter 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches; depth of
cavity, 2-1/2 to 3 inches; but the nest is sometimes built up
higher and is more substantial if placed directly over water. In
fact, this little coot-footed bird sometimes builds a miniature
cootlike nest. The male alone was noted building the nest, and he
usually incubates, but on two occasions the female was observed on
the eggs. The incubating bird is not a close sitter and departs
from the nest long before the intruder arrives. In that
jaeger-haunted land when the male phalarope returns to the nest he
weaves so stealthily through the grass that it is almost impossible
to follow his devious course so that two or three rapid charges are
necessary by the watcher toward the supposed location of the nest
before the incubating bird can finally be forced to rise directly
from its eggs.

_Eggs._--The red phalarope ordinarily lays four eggs, though three sometimes constitute a full set, and as many as six have been found in a nest, probably laid by two birds. They vary in shape from ovate pyriform to subpyriform and have a slight gloss. The prevailing ground colors range from "pale olive buff" to "dark olive buff"; in the darker sets they vary from "ecru olive" to "Isabella color"; in a few sets there is a greenish tinge approaching "light brownish olive". The markings are bold, sharply defined and irregular in shape; they are most numerous and often confluent at the larger end; but some eggs are finely speckled over the entire surface. The prevailing colors of the markings are dark browns, from "warm sepia" or "Vandyke brown" to "bone brown" or "clove brown." Some eggs are marked with lighter or brighter browns, "hazel," "russet," or even "tawny." The drab under markings are hardly noticeable. The measurements of 148 eggs in the United States National Museum average 31.5 by 22 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =35= by 22, 32 by =23= and =27.5= by =20.5= millimeters.

_Young._--Authorities differ as to the period of incubation, which does not seem to have been definitely determined by anyone. Mr. Conover writes to me that "a nest located June 10, with three eggs, hatched on June 29." Incubation is performed almost wholly by the male, but Mr. Brandt (mss.) says: "The female, however, is, of course, the dominant member of the household, but she occasionally shares the cares of incubation, as I proved by collecting one from the nest; while later in the year I was successful in photographing a mother with a single chick. Perhaps it was a favorite child which she was taking for a walk while the father was mothering the rest of the family." Most observers agree that the male assumes full care of the young also; but Miss Haviland (1915) says: "It seems as if both male and female unite to care for the young, and when the breeding ground is approached they fly around and call anxiously." Probably the gaily dressed female is a poor mother at best and prefers to join the large flocks of her sex on the tundra pools.

_Plumages._--The downy young red phalarope is the handsomest of its group, darker and more richly colored, as well as larger than the young northern phalarope. The upper parts show various shades of deep, warm brownish buff, darkest, "Sudan brown," on the crown, paling to "raw sienna," on the sides of the head, occiput, neck, thighs, and rump, and to "yellow ocher" on the rest of the upper parts; these colors shade off into "antimony yellow" or "warm buff" on the throat and breast and to buffy white on the belly; the down of the upper parts is tipped with black, except on the yellow ocher parts, and is basally dusky. It is boldly marked above with clear, velvety black; there is a large black patch back of the central crown patch of brown and a diminishing black stripe on each side of it; a narrow black stripe runs from the hill, over the eye, to the auriculars; another runs across the hind neck; a broad, but more or less broken and irregular, black stripe extends down the center of the back and a similar stripe down each side of it; there is also a large well-defined black patch on each side of the rump, above the thigh.

In fresh juvenal plumage, in August, the feathers of the crown, mantle, and scapulars are black, broadly edged with "ochraceous tawny"; the tertials, median wing coverts, upper tail coverts, and tail feathers are narrowly edged with paler shades of buff; the lesser wing coverts are narrowly edged with white; the forehead, lores, neck all around, upper breast, and flanks are suffused with grayish brown, varying from "fawn color" or "wood brown," on the throat, neck, and breast, to "vinaceous buff" on the head and flanks; the rest of the under parts are pure white. The sexes are alike in juvenal and winter plumages.

The tawny edgings of the upper plumage soon fade and wear away before the postjuvenal molt begins during August. I have seen birds in full juvenal plumage as late as September 15; the molt is usually not completed until late in October, but I have seen it well advanced by the middle of August. This molt includes nearly all of the contour plumage, but not the wings and tail, so that first-winter birds can be distinguished from adults by the juvenal wing coverts and tail.

The first prenuptial molt occurs mainly in April and May; it is sometimes completed by the last week in May, but more often not until early June; I have seen the full first-winter plumage retained until May 21. This molt involves the entire contour plumage, some wing coverts, and the tail; so that young birds in first nuptial plumage closely resemble adults and can be distinguished only by the presence of some old juvenal wing coverts. The sexes are quite unlike in this plumage and are probably ready to breed. Certain females, in which the black crown and white cheek patches are obscured with buff and rufous tints, but are otherwise in full plumage, are perhaps young birds.

At the following molt, the first postnuptial, the adult winter plumage is acquired, characterized by the bluish-gray mantle and the white under parts. This molt is complete; it begins in July and is sometimes completed in August, but more often it is prolonged into September or later. Adults have a partial molt in the spring, from March to May, involving the contour feathers, the tail, some of the tertials, and some of the wing coverts; the remiges are not molted, and some of the old scapulars are retained. The adult postnuptial molt, from July to December, is complete.

_Food._--During the month or so that they are on their northern breeding grounds the red phalaropes are shore birds, feeding in the tundra pools or along the shores, but during the rest of the year they are essentially sea birds, feeding on or about the floating masses of kelp or seaweeds, or following the whales or schools of large fish; hence they are aptly called "sea geese," "whale birds," or "bowhead birds." They occasionally come in to brackish pools near the shore or rarely are seen on the sandy beaches or mud flats feeding with other shore birds. Outlying rocky islands are often favorite feeding places. Ludwig Kumlien (1879) writes:

Whalemen always watch these birds while they are wheeling around
high in the air in graceful and rapid circles, for they know that
as soon as they sight a whale blowing they start for him, and from
their elevated position they can, of course, discern one at a much
greater distance than the men in the boat I doubt if it be
altogether the marine animals brought to the surface by the whale
that they are after, for if the whale remains above the surface any
length of time they always settle on his back and hunt parasites.
One specimen was brought me by an Eskimo that he had killed on the
back of an _Orca gladiator_; the esophagus was fairly crammed with
_Laernodipodian crustaceans_, still alive, although the bird had
been killed some hours; they looked to me like _Caprella phasma_
and _Cyamus ceti_. According to the Eskimo who killed it, the birds
were picking something from the whale's back, I have often seen
them dart down among a school of _Delphinapterous leucas_ and
follow them as far as I could see. On one occasion a pair suddenly
alighted astern of my boat and were not 3 feet from me at times;
they followed directly in the wake of the boat, and seemed so
intent on picking up food that they paid no attention whatever to
us. They had probably mistaken the boat for a whale.

In northeastern Greenland, Manniche (1910) saw them hunt flying insects on land; he also says:

Some 20 analyses of stomachs proved that the phalaropes in the
breeding season chiefly feed on small insects, principally gnats
and larvae of these. The esophagus and stomachs of several birds
killed were filled with larvae of gnats, which in vast multitudes
live in the fresh-water ponds. In a few stomachs I also found fine
indeterminable remnants of plants (Algae?).

W. Leon Dawson (1923) describes their feeding habits at the Farallones, as follows:

Three red phalaropes, all female I take it, although none of them
in highest plumage, and one northern, also a female, just under
"high," are pasturing at my feet in a brackish pool some 20 feet
long, 10 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. The waters of the pool teem
with a minute reddish crustacean (?) shaped like an ant, less than
a thirty-second of an inch in length and incredibly nimble. The
insects progress by leaps, and are visible only at the moment of
arrival. Yet these birds gobble them up one at a time with unerring
accuracy and with a rapidity which is nothing short of marvelous.
The reds work habitually at the rate of five dabs per second, i.
e., 300 a minute, while the northern, with a longer beak and a much
daintier motion, works only half as fast.

The following observation was made on a California beach by Roland C. Ross (1922):

Kelp flies seemed to satisfy its sporting instincts and hunger, and
the bird stalked them slowly and pointedly one by one. With bill
and neck outstretched and lowered in line with a fly on the sand, a
slow advance was made until with a pounce the hunt closed. If the
fly escaped, the phalarope sometimes ran after it, bill out.
Another pose interested me. On finding a kelp mass decaying and
drawing flies, the phalarope approached closely and so low that his
breast touched the ground, but the rear of the bird was high up. At
times he would remain with breast down and pick at the flies much
as a dusting fowl picks up a stray grain. Mr. L. E. Wyman reported
similar "breast to ground" actions of two phalaropes he saw feeding
by a kelp mass on the beach.

Alexander Wetmore (1925), in his report on the food of the red phalarope, analyzed the contents of 36 stomachs, mainly from the Pribilof Islands, with some from New York and Maine; they were collected from May to November, but mainly in August. Crustaceans made up 33.5 per cent of the food; beetles amounted to 27.3 per cent; flies formed 22.7 per cent; and 6.8 per cent consisted of tiny fishes, mostly sculpins. The food of this species therefore shows it to be harmless or neutral.

_Behavior._--Phalaropes are active, lively birds in all their movements and they seem to be constantly on the move. They are all rapid fliers and this species is decidedly the swiftest on the wing of all three. As the restless flocks move about over the water, their aerial evolutions are well worth watching. Lucien M. Turner, in his Labrador notes, writes that he has seen them "ascend to a great height in increasing circles, darting in and out among each other and making a peculiar twitter as they ascend. When some suitable locality is discerned these birds descend almost perpendicularly and drop on the water as softly as a feather." They are so much like sandpipers in appearance and in manner of flight that one is always surprised to see them alight on the water.

Perhaps even more surprising than their peculiar marital relations are their aquatic habits. Their semipalmated and lobed toes are well adapted for swimming and the thick, compact plumage of their under parts protects them and buoys them up on the water. They float as lightly as corks, or as freshly fallen autumn leaves on a woodland pool, swimming swiftly and whirling rapidly, undisturbed by rushing currents or by foaming breakers. William Brewster (1925) has well described the behavior of a red phalarope on an inland stream at Umbagog Lake, Me.; he writes:

I strolled across a suspension footbridge that spans Bear River
here, a shallow stream rippling over a rocky bed scarce 50 feet in
width, beneath overhanging yellow birches and other deciduous
trees. Returning a few minutes later I had reached the middle of
the bridge when a grayish bird started directly under it and flew
off down stream for a few rods, skimming close to the water and
uttering a sharp _whit, whit_, which reminded me of the call of a
spotted sandpiper concerned for the safety of its young. Almost at
the first glance I recognized the bird as a red phalarope whose
presence in such a place surprised me greatly, of course.
Alighting, again, in the middle of the river it floated buoyantly
and stemmed the swift current with apparent ease, although avoiding
such exertion, whenever possible, by taking advantage of
backward-flowing eddies. Presently it began working around the
bases of some large boulders where it seemed to be obtaining
abundant food by pecking rapidly and incessantly at their rough
flanks, wetted by lapping waves. It also fed on the surface of the
swirling eddies, paddling about very rapidly and in devious
courses. It was most interesting to see a bird whose characteristic
haunts, at least in autumn and winter, are boundless stretches of
wind-swept ocean, thus disporting itself in a brawling mountain
stream overarched by trees. Even a water ousel could not have
appeared more perfectly at home there. Like most phalaropes this
one was tame and confiding, but whenever I approached within 20 or
25 feet, it would rise and fly on a few yards, giving the _whit_
call.

On land their movements are exceedingly rapid and graceful, though somewhat erratic; they run about excitedly with all the restless activity of sandpipers, nodding their heads with a pretty, dovelike motion. At such times they are remarkably tame, unsuspicious, and gentle birds; as they do not habitually come in contact with human beings, they are unafraid.

_Voice._--The vocal performances of the red phalarope are not elaborate. As quoted above, Doctor Nelson (1887) describes its note as "a low and musical _clink, clink_, sounding very much like the noise made by lightly tapping together two small bars of steel." Mr. Brewster (1925) refers to the note as "an emphatic _zip, zip_, closely resembling that of Bonaparte's sandpiper ... but louder and mellower." Again he says: "Once they rose and flew about the pond precisely like small sandpipers, one of them uttering a peep-like _tweet_ just as it left the water." Charles W. Townsend (1920) saw one which "emitted a whistle which was clear and pleasant at times, and again sharp and grating; at times the note could be expressed as a _creak_."

_Field marks._--In its nuptial plumage the red phalarope can be easily recognized by its brilliant colors; the male is smaller, his colors are duller, and his breast is mixed with white. In its winter plumage, in which we usually see it, it is likely to be confused with the northern phalarope or the sanderling. It is larger than the former, more stockily built and has a shorter, thicker bill, which is yellowish at the base. From the sanderling it can be distinguished by the gray markings on the head and neck, which are mainly white in winter sanderlings, by the darker gray of the back and by the yellow at the base of the bill. Phalaropes are usually tame enough to allow close study of these details. John T. Nichols suggests to me the following additional field characters:

This phalarope holds its gray plumage well into the spring and
adults quickly resume same when they go to sea in late summer.
Around the first of August flocks offshore are in gray and white
"winter" plumage, but a few birds have a peculiar pink tone
appreciable on the underparts at fair range, apt to be strongest
posteriorly, and which is diagnostic. It is caused by scattered old
red feathers overlaid by the delicate tips of new white ones. The
white wing stripe is somewhat broader in this than in the northern
phalarope and in gray plumage the upper parts are of so pale a tone
that the wing pattern appears faint, something as it does in the
piping plover. What seems to be a late summer plumage of birds of
the year, on the other hand, is less white than the corresponding
one of the northern. As the bird sits on the water the sides of its
neck, breast, and sides appear brownish (not red or pink), the only
touch of whitish it shows is on the flanks. At close range a curved
phalarope mark behind the eye is just indicated, corresponding to
the bold contrasting mark in the northern.

_Enemies._--Phalaropes are not considered game birds, as they are too small and too seldom seen in large numbers to warrant pursuing them; so man should not be counted among their enemies. On their Arctic breeding grounds they evidently have plenty of avian enemies, such as jaegers, gulls, and various gyrfalcons. Mr. Manniche (1910) writes:

The two phalaropes observed were evidently very much afraid of
larger waders as for instance knots. Several times I saw them rush
together in terror and lie motionless on the water with their heads
pressed down to their backs until the supposed danger--a passing
knot--was past; then they continued their meal or love-making. The
only enemy of the full-grown birds is the gyrfalcon (_Falco
gyrfalco_), which will surprise and capture them when lying on the
water. This I succeeded in observing one day in summer 1907; just
as I was observing a male phalarope, which swam along the beach of
a little clear pond hardly two paces from my feet, I suddenly heard
a strong whistling in the air and saw an old falcon, that from a
dizzy height shot like an arrow towards the surface of the water,
caught the phalarope and again rapidly rose in the air carrying the
bird in its talons. I saw the bird of prey descend and settle on
the summit of a rock near the bay in order to eat its prey. The
method, with which the falcon carried out its exploit, proved that
several phalaropes before had the same fate. The gyrfalcon can
certainly not catch a phalarope in flight.

Nature, however, sometimes takes her toll, as the following observation on the coast of California reported by L. W. Welch (1922) will illustrate:

There was an unusual migration of red phalaropes (_Phalaropus
fulicarius_) this past fall. I saw about three hundred within an
hour on the ponds of the Long Beach Salt Works. This was October
30. There was a great mortality among them this year. Dead birds
were brought to the schools picked up by children in the streets or
elsewhere. On the ponds mentioned above, dead birds were washed up
in windrows. I could count 19 from one position and 21 from
another. I counted 75 within half an hour. The birds had no shot
holes in them, and showed no external evidences of having flown
against wires, but all the birds examined were emaciated in the
extreme.

Mr. Brandt in his manuscript notes writes:

I was told that the natives look upon the flesh of the red
phalarope as the greatest delicacy, and it is considered the
choicest food that can be placed before an honored guest. The
little native boys have, as their most prized mark, this red-brown
target. Inasmuch as this bird inhabits the small ponds just outside
the villages, the young hunters have always easily stalked game
available. The children begin to hunt the red phalarope as soon as
they are large enough to pull a bow string. The chase is so
alluring that the older boys in my employ could not resist the
temptation whenever presented, to grab a bow and arrow from the
youngsters, and stalk this little bird. The chase is not one sided,
however, as the phalarope is as quick as a flash, and like cupid's
arrows, many shots fail to reach their mark.

_Fall._--The red phalaropes are the last of the waders to leave their Arctic breeding grounds, lingering until the lakes and shores are closed with ice, often well into October. These loiterers are all young birds; the adults leave early and are sometimes seen off the coasts of the United States in July. F. S. Hersey and I collected one at Chatham, Mass., on July 4, 1921; this may have been a loiterer from the spring flight, but probably it was an early fall migrant.

The fall migration is usually well out at sea, often hundreds of miles from land. Kumlien (1879) writes:

These birds were met with at great distances from land. The first
seen on our outward passage was on August 4, 1877, In latitude 41°
N., longitude 68° W.; here large flocks were met with. As we
proceeded northward, their numbers increased till we reached
Grinnell Bay. Off the Amitook Islands, on the Labrador coast, 200
miles from the nearest land, I saw very large flocks during a
strong gale.

William Palmer (1890) met with it in great abundance between Cape Sable and Cape Cod on August 30.

Off the coast of California the flight begins in July or early August and continues through the fall; a few birds linger through the winter from Monterey southward. Throughout the great interior of North America migration records are scattered, hardly more than casuals. It is interesting, however, to note that Audubon (1840) saw his first birds of this species on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, where he killed 17 at one shot. I have an adult male in my collection which was shot on the Taunton River, near my home, on August 12, 1913.

_Winter._--Our knowledge of the winter home of our American birds of this species is rather meager. They have been traced as far south as the Falkland Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and Juan Fernandez in the Pacific. Probably they are scattered over the warmer portions of both oceans, wherever they can find an abundant food supply.

A number of phalaropes, almost certainly of this species, were observed by Mr. Nichols in the Atlantic, off Cape Lookout, March 22, 1926. "They may winter here or, what is equally likely, arrive in spring to find the same feed which attracts the mackerel to the capes of the Carolinas in March or April."

Aretas A. Saunders writes to me of a similar observation made by him off the coast of South Carolina on March 5, 1908:

That day red phalaropes were abundant on the water, though we were
out of sight of land. The sea was calm with a glossy surface, but a
slight swell and flocks of from 10 to 50 birds rose from in front
of the boat, at intervals all morning. They flew in compact flocks,
low over the water, and alighted again when some distance away.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Arctic regions of both Old and New Worlds; south in winter to South Africa, India, China, and southern South America.

_Breeding range._--In the Old World the red phalarope breeds on the Arctic coast from Iceland east to Nova Zembla, the Taimur Peninsula, and the islands and coast of Siberia to Bering Sea. The race, _jourdaini_, breeds in Spitsbergen, Iceland, and eastern Greenland.

In the Western Hemisphere the breeding range extends north to Alaska (probably St. Lawrence Island, Cape Prince of Wales, Cape Lowenstern, Point Barrow, and the Colville delta); Mackenzie (Rendezvous Lake and Franklin Bay); northern Franklin (Bay of Mercy, Winter Harbor, and Cape Liverpool); Grinnell Island (Fort Conger); and Greenland (Disco Bay, Godhavn, and probably Christianshaab). East to Greenland (Stormkap and probably Christianshaab); eastern Franklin (Exeter Sound, probably Nugumeute and Grinnell Bay); and Ungava (Port Burwell). South to Ungava (Port Burwell and probably Prince of Wales Sound); southern Franklin (Southampton Island and Cape Fullerton); and Alaska (Fort Egbert and Hooper Bay). West to Alaska (Hooper Bay, St. Michael, and probably St. Lawrence Island).

_Winter range._--In the Eastern Hemisphere the winter range of the red phalarope seems to be principally at sea off the southern coast of Arabia and the west coast of Africa.

At this season in the Western Hemisphere it has been taken or observed north to Lower California (La Paz and Cape San Lucas); off the coast of Southern California (Point Pinos, Santa Cruz Islands, Anacapa Island, and San Diego); Alabama (Pickett Springs); Florida (Canaveral Light); and South Carolina (Mount Pleasant); and south to southern South America (Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and Chile).

_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival in North America are: North Carolina, Cape Lookout, May 29; Delaware, seen off the coast, May 9; New Jersey, Cape May, May 3, and Ocean City, May 6; New York, Shelter Island, March 25, and Montauk Point, April 30; Connecticut, Bridgeport, May 30; Massachusetts, Gloucester, April 2; Maine, York Beach, May 8; Nova Scotia, Halifax, June 10; Quebec, Prince of Wales Sound, May 31; Washington, Destruction Island lighthouse, May 8; and Alaska, Cape Constantine, May 15, Kodiak Island, May 16, near Kotlik, May 28, Prince Frederick Sound, May 29, and Point Barrow, June 3.

_Fall migration._--Late dates of departure in the fall are: Alaska, Chatham Straits, September 9, Becharof Lake, October 6, Point Barrow, October 10, St. Michael, October 14, and Kodiak Island, November 4; Washington, Ilwaco, November 9, and Shoalwater Bay, November 24; California, Berkeley, October 27, Point Reyes, November 22, and Santa Barbara, November 30; Labrador, West Ste. Modiste, September 13; Prince Edward Island, North River, November 20; Nova Scotia, off the coast, September 16; Maine, Westbrook, September 26, Old Orchard, October 5, and Portland, October 16; Massachusetts, North Truro, October 15, near Nantucket, October 25, and Boston, December 30; Connecticut, Portland, October 21, and East Haven, November 24; New York, Oneida Lake, October 4, Branchport, October 12, Orient Point, October 15, Cayuga Lake, October 18, and Montauk Point, November 27; Maryland, White's Ferry, October 4; District of Columbia, Anacostia River, October 17; and Virginia, Blacksburg, September 21.

_Casual records._--The red phalarope is rare or irregular anywhere in the interior but it has nevertheless been detected over wide areas on several occasions. Among these records are: Vermont, Woodstock, November 10, 1916; Pennsylvania, Bucks County, December 15, 1918; Ohio, Painesville, November 9, 1923; Ontario, Ottawa, October 21, 1886, and Hamilton, November 17, 1882; Michigan, Monroe, October 24, 1888, and October 25, 1890; Indiana, Jasper County, April 10, 1885, and Terre Haute, October 23, 1889; Wisconsin, Lake Koshkonong, September 3, 1891, Delavan, October 11, 1902, and near Cedar Grove, October 8, 1921; Kentucky, near Louisville, latter part of October, 1808; South Dakota, one taken near Rapid City (date unknown); Kansas, near Lawrence, November 5, 1905; Wyoming, Laramie Plains, fall of 1897; Colorado, Loveland, July 25, 1895; and Texas, Wise County, September 26, 1893. It also has been taken once in New Zealand, at Waimate, South Island, in June, 1883.

_Egg dates._--Alaska: 152 records, May 25 to July 13; 76 records, June 14 to 30. Arctic Canada: 14 records, June 21 to July 14; 7 records, June 24 to July 6. Spitsbergen: 22 records, June 24 to July 18; 11 records, June 28 to July 11. Iceland: 17 records, June 1 to 25; 9 records, June 14 to 22.

LOBIPES LOBATUS (Linnaeus)

NORTHERN PHALAROPE

HABITS

This is the smallest, the most abundant, and the most widely distributed of the phalaropes; consequently it is the best known. Its breeding range is circumpolar, but extends much farther south than that of the red phalarope; it might be called sub-Arctic rather than Arctic. There seems to be only one homogeneous species around the world. It resembles the red phalarope in its habits, but is more often seen on inland waters than is that species.