62 The Irish Naturalist. March, 



gunshot or other form of violence. The emaciated condition 

 which the bird is often found in when taken would tend to 

 shorten its days if it were subjected to captivity. A case in 

 point is that recorded by Mr. R. Davis. 1 A servant of his 

 brought him a live Phalarope caught in his yard in the centre 

 of the town of Clonmel. It fed freely on worms placed in 

 water but " pined away after three or four days." The writer 

 states; — " It was much emaciated when taken. The weather 

 had been extremely wet and stormy for some days previously." 



Food. — Like many other birds the Phalarope partakes of a 

 mixed diet. Marine animals of various kinds are eaten, such 

 as Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Insecta. This bird will also 

 pick the parasites off the back of whales and other cetaceans 

 (Saunders). 



The late Mr. Thompson examined the stomachs of several 

 specimens. One shot on 20th September, 1839, near Porta- 

 ferry, contained in its stomach principally larvae and perfect 

 insects together with a few seeds of plants. Two shot 

 on 6th December, 1844, on Conswater, Belfast Bay, were 

 examined and in their stomachs were found small Crustacea 

 {Idotece) y univalve mollusca (Paludina muriatica, Lam.), and 

 one insect larva. 



Dr. Scharff has kindly favoured me with the following report 

 on the contents of the stomach of the Grey Phalarope which 

 I recently obtained (November 20, 1899), from the North Bull, 

 Dublin Bay : — " The gizzard of this bird contained mostly 

 sand with small sharp stones, the largest measuring Jth of 

 an inch in length. As for the food it consisted entirely of two 

 species of Invertebrates. The last meal was about a dozen 

 * maggots ' or larvcz of a fly such as might be found along 

 river banks. They were very slender and nearly half an inch 

 long. A previous meal consisted of about the same quantity 

 of a small gasteropod shell, probably Hydrobia ulvce, which 

 occurs abundantly round the coast of Ireland in brackish 

 water. The surfaces of the shells were much worn, and must 

 have been in the gizzard for some time, while the maggots 

 were quite fresh." 



It is interesting to note that no remains of the perfect fly 

 (imago) were detected by Dr. Scharff although the larvae were 



1 Thompson : " Birds of Ireland," vol. ii., p. 341. 



