The Wilson Phalarope at Santa Barbara
The Wilson Phalarope at Santa Barbara
On the morning of the 30th of April, 1909, while scanning a flock of small sandpipers in the muddy flats near the railway track at Santa Barbara, my glass fell upon a bird which at the second or third glance I saw to be a Wilson Phalarope (Steganopus tricolor), a female in handsome plumage; and presently I discovered nearby her plainly drest small mate. In the afternoon I found the pair in the same place, and watcht them at short range as long as I pleased. Both birds were still present May 2d, 4th, and 6th. On each of the next three days I saw the male only, and on the 10th I left home for two months. It amused me to notice how to the very last I involuntarily thought of the bright large female as the male, and vice versa.
BRADFORD TORREY
Santa Barbara, California.
