i9 01 - Pattkn. — The Grey Phalarope. 63 



present. Assuming that the gizzard of the bird which he 

 examined belonged to the same individual which I saw the 

 day before, one might have expected on examination to find 

 flies present in the gizzard, inasmuch as I saw the bird 

 snapping at them. Perhaps the insects w T ere not captured, or 

 if they were they may not have been swallowed, or again they 

 may have been swallowed and have undergone digestion ? 



Geographical distribution. — According to Mr. Saunders the 

 breeding-range of the Grey Phalarope is circumpolar. He 

 states:— ''It is common on the lyiakoff Islands and at the 

 L,ena delta ; while its eggs have been taken by Middendorf in 

 the Taimyr district, by Mr. Popham at the mouth of the 

 Yenesei, and by Col. Feilden on Spitsbergen, and many have 

 been sent from the districts of Upernavik and Egedesminde 

 in Greenland. Westward, Arctic explorers have noted the 

 bird as far North as 82° 30', and it is abundant in summer 

 on the shores of Alaska, as well as on the Asiatic side of 

 Bering Sea. In winter its migrations extend to Chili and 

 New Zealand, and China seems to be visited regularly, but 

 there is much to be learned respecting the lines of passage in 

 Asia, for the bird is rare on the Pamirs, and has only once 

 been obtained in India (Calcutta, May, 1846). In Europe 

 though seeming to miss the Volga valley, it is found on many 

 inland waters and on the coasts down to the Mediterranean ; 

 it also visits North Africa. 1 " 



Sexual difference in size and plumage.- —With one exception, 

 namely the Ruff {Machetes pug?iax) sexual dimorphism cannot 

 be said to exist to any great degree among the Charadriidce 

 which frequent the Irish coastiands. The general rule is that 

 the female is slightly the larger of the two. 



In many species the adult male and female plumages are 

 alike (Sanderling, Dunlin, Stints, &c). In others, such as 

 the Godwits, although the plumage markings are alike in 

 patte?n, yet the females are duller than the males. The 

 summer plumage of the male Turnstone is much brighter and 

 more varied than that of the female, and of a somewhat different 

 pattern. 



In the case of the Grey Phalarope the female bird is not 

 only larger than the male but she is more gaily attired in her 



1 Saunders: " Manual of British Birds," latest edition (1899), p. 566. 



