RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 117 



there are buff margins to the feathers of the upper parts, but as 

 a rule the young are redder on breast and wings than a bird 

 which is losing summer dress. Length, 8*25 ins. Wing, 5 ins. 

 Tarsus, 0*9 in. 



Red-necked Phalarope. Phalaropus lohahis (Linn.). 



The circumpolar breeding range of the Red-necked Phalarope 

 (Plate 48) is rather more southerly than that of the Grey, and 

 in winter the bird has not been recorded so far south. To the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands, the Outer and Inner Hebrides, and 

 one district in western Ireland, it is a summer visitor, nesting 

 in small and scattered colonies, but elsewhere only an un- 

 common passage migrant, more frequent in autumn than spring, 

 and a rare winter visitor. 



The diminutive size of the swimming Red-necked Phalarope 

 is striking ; it looks about half as big as a Dabchick. It swims 

 as buoyantly as the Grey, with the same restless, jerky energy, 

 darting from side to side after insects. Its slender sandpiper 

 head and neck bob as it swims — wonderfully strongly for so 

 small a bird. Characteristically tame or indifferent to the 

 presence of man, it will alight on a wayside pond and feed with 

 confidence. The colour scheme of the summer dress is very 

 neat, a combination of slate grey, fox-red, and white. What 

 struck me most in a female that I watched on two consecutive 

 days was the contrast between the white chin and the rich 

 chestnut throat, and the long, slender bill. The white of the 

 under parts ran up to a peak on the breast, and above the eye 

 was a small white spot. This spot is not always distinct, and 

 in skins is lost by shrinkage ; it is not shown in Gould's, 

 Dresser's, or Lilford's plates, but Mr. Thorburn noticed it 

 when drawing for his " British Birds," and it is clear in Miss 

 Turner's photograph (Plate 49). With difficulty Mr. Oldham 

 and I made this bird fly ; at first it j-miped into the air and 



