42 The Irish Naturalist, February, 



I received the following letter: — "The Red-necked Phalarope 

 which I sent you was, of course, Irish, otherwise I would not 

 have sent it to you. I now send two others shot to- day within 

 a mile of the house. The birds breed here, and have, 

 according to my keeper, done so for many years ; he has also 

 frequently found their nests, and on my questioning him he 

 gave me a correct description of their eggs, colour, &c., &c. 

 You will kindly set them up and give them on loan to the 

 Natural History Museum " (where they now are). 



In my reply I said that ornithologists would scarcely credit 

 such a thing that this, a polar-breeding species, should be 

 found breeding so far south, and begged him to set matters 

 beyond all doubt by obtaining either an q.%^ or young bird in 

 the down. To my great delight, on ist of August, I received a 

 baby Phalarope, with a note, in which my correspondent 

 said : — 



" I am sorry to have to send you an uncontrovertible proof 

 of the Red-necked Phalarope's nesting here. This is one of 

 their chicks — I saw one other. The distress of the two old 

 birds made it very hard to kill this little thing. During my 

 tramp through the bog I counted seventeen, but there may 

 have been many more ; the most of the birds I saw were 

 females. The tameness of these is very marked, as apparently 

 unconcernedly they are seeking food within a distance of a 

 few feet. It is my greatest desire that these birds should be 

 perfectly protected and unmolested. I am surprised that 

 these little chicks are able to survive their many enemies, 

 especially as there are always a lot of Black-backed and other 

 gulls on the bog." 



The chick weighed 96 grains; plumage like a downy Dunlin, 

 but down much more golden yellow about head and neck, 

 shading into white on lower parts ; two well marked white 

 stripes on a black surface down middle of back. Feet inside 

 flesh colour, outer parts dark, toes black, beak dark flesh. 



The male bird, which is much more obscure in the colour, 

 had two very large hatching spots on the breast, showing 

 that he assists in the duty of incubation ; he is smaller than 

 the female, and weighed 589 grains. The female bird, strange 

 to say, was assuming the winter plumage so early as the 14th 

 July, and weighed 691 grains. 



