1903- Harvie-Brown. — The Red-necked Phalarope. 97 



It is equally strange to find only two records of the Grey 

 Phalarope in the Outer Hebrides, and those on the east side 

 of Harris and on the east side of North Uist, as related in our 

 last paper on the " Avifauna of the Outer Hebrides " {Ann. 

 Scott. Nat. Hist.^ 1903. PP- 7-2 1), and no other returns from 

 any of the lighthouses. 



It would prove of interest, also, if we could learn exactly 

 how long the nesting of the Red-necked Phalarope has been 

 known at the locality in the west of Ireland communicated to 

 Mr. Williams. No doubt this could be done by his correspon- 

 dent without giving too much publicity to collectors. We 

 highly approve of the reticence in this direction, but exact 

 data would be of decided value in such a case. 



Judging from the data already afforded by Mr. J. H. Gurney's 

 useful mapping of the 1886 occurrences, with regard to the 

 Grey Phalarope, and from those supplied by Ussher and 

 Barrington, it would appear that only in exceptionally tempes- 

 tuous autumns (and possibly greatest accumulations of ice 

 floes combined with westerly gales) do we observe phenomenal 

 numbers of the Grey Phalarope. In ordinary seasons we can 

 scarcely expect any great influx of such an Arctic-breeding 

 species as the Grey Phalarope upon our shores, or for indi- 

 viduals to be driven inland at all. They are, I believe, oceanic 

 travellers ; but in extra severe weather at sea they are driven 

 southward and eastward irresistibly, and only succeed in seek- 

 ing shelter (at least in bulk) when our south Irish and 

 English coasts are reached, thus accounting for the " lumping 

 up of records," so to speak, on the south coasts of Ireland and 

 England — and resting, in "an emaciated condition," before 

 pursuing a further journey southward. 



I think it would be of interest in this connection if the 

 " ports of call " on the coasts of Ireland were tabulated for a 

 series of years (as has been done so far both by Ussher and 

 Barrington) in ordi7tary seasons — first in autumn, and again on 

 their return journey, for both Red necked Phalaropes and Grey 

 Phalaropes. 



I believe an extension of the breeding range of most species 



depends upon the normal migration lines being persistently 



followed both in autumri and in sprifig, and in congestion 



occurring not onlv at previous nesting centres, but also in 



A 3 



