RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 277 



are placed in more or less scattered colonies. The nest 

 is slight, and usually placed on the ground, in our 

 islands, amongst the grass or other herbage on a patch 

 of dry ground in the marshes and close to the pools. 

 Sometimes it is placed in the centre of a grass or rush- 

 tuft. It is merely a hollow scantily lined with a few 

 bits of dry grass and broken rush. The Red-necked 

 Phalarope is remarkably tame and confiding at its nest, 

 leaving it when disturbed, and usually flying to the 

 nearest water, evincing little or no anxiety for its safety. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Red-necked Phalarope are four in 

 number, and pyriform in shape. They vary in ground 

 colour from pale olive to buff of various shades, blotched 

 and spotted with umber-brown, blackish-brown, and 

 pale brown, and with a few underlying markings of 

 gray. As is usual, most of the blotches are on the 

 larger end of the ^g^. Average measurement, ri inch 

 in length, by -82 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed 

 chiefly by the male, lasts about three weeks. 



Diagnostic characters : The small size, pyriform 

 shape, and colour combined, readily distinguish the 

 eggs of the Red-necked Phalarope from those of any 

 other allied species breeding in the British Islands. 



