130 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



its numbers are increased during winter. West of India it is a 

 regular summer visitor to Afghanistan, Turkestan, North Persia, 

 Palestine, Asia Minor, to the salt lakes of the Kalmuk and Kirghis 

 Steppes, the lagoons on the shores of the Black Sea, the delta of 

 the Rhone and the marismas of Southern Spain and Portugal. 



When Mr. Young and I were in the Dobrudscha in 1883 we 

 found a small colony of seven nests on the 7th of June. They 

 were flat, and stood from two to three inches above the level of 

 the water ; the slight hollow was about six inches across, and 

 the nest was about eight inches in diameter at the surface of the 

 water. They were entirely composed of broken bits of old dead 

 reeds, the slenderest pieces being reserved for the lining. 



The eggs of the Common Stilt are pale huffish-brown in ground- 

 colour, spotted, blotched and streaked with blackish-brown, and 

 with underlying markings of inky-grey; some have the ground- 

 colour much richer than others, and the character of the markings 

 is subject to considerable variety. Some eggs are boldly and 

 clearly blotched, a few of the larger blotches being connected by 

 irregular streaks ; others are blotched, but the colour is paler and 

 the blotches are not so clearly denned. Most of the markings 

 are on the surface, and on some specimens pale and dark brown 

 blotches and spots occur. The eggs are pyriform in shape, and 

 vary in length from 1'85 to 15 inch, and in breadth from 1'32 to 

 1*1 inch. They are not easily confused with the eggs of any 

 other British species, but only differ in size from those of the 

 Avocet. 



THE GREY PHALAROPE. 



(Ph a la rap us fulicarius.)* 



Plate 38, Fig. 3. 



The Grey Phalarope must be regarded as a rare accidental 

 visitor to our shores, but one which, like the Waxwing, occasion- 

 ally appears in great numbers. It is a circumpolar bird, and 

 breeds in Iceland, Spitsbergen, and in the Taimur Peninsula, 

 as well as in Arctic America from Alaska to Greenland. 



The birds are said not to make any nest, but to deposit their 

 four eggs in a slight depression in the grass, or amongst the 

 shingle ; occasionally a few leaves are added as a lining. 



* Crymophilus fulicarius — Sharpe, Handb,, III., p. 193. 



