THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 



{PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS) 



TTERE again we have a most interesting and 

 -^-^ beautiful little species threatened with 

 speedy extermination within the British Islands. 

 Fortunately, its haunts are confined to the most 

 remote areas, but even there the " trading collector " 

 penetrates, and with results that may be readily 

 imagined, seeing the price that British-taken birds 

 and eggs command. There would be no thieves if 

 there were no purchasers of stolen goods, and there 

 would be none of these rascally speculative dealers 

 ready to despoil the haunts and nests of our rarest 

 birds, if Q,gg collectors declined to purchase speci- 

 mens which are literally costing the extermination 

 of so many interesting birds. All the mainland 

 haunts of the Red-necked Phalarope are now 

 deserted. Formerly this species bred in many a 

 Scottish shire, — in those of Perth, Inverness, and 



Sutherland for certain, — but nowadays its last 



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