566 GREY PHALAROPE. 



The Grey Phalarope appears to be circumpolar in its breeding- 

 range. It is common on the Liakoff Islands and at the Lena delta ; 

 while its eggs have been taken by Middendorff in the Taimyr dis- 

 trict, 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 noticed 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 

 Chile 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 seem- 

 ing 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. 



Courtship is conducted by the female, and in June the eggs, 4 in 

 number, are laid in a depression near some small pool in the spongy 

 peat or moss ; these are olive-buff, thickly blotched with umber- 

 brown — less pointed, more boldly marked, and rather larger than 

 those of the Red-necked Phalarope : measurements i'2 5 by "88 in. 

 Incubation is performed by the male, who also takes charge of the 

 young, which are sometimes on the wing by the middle of July and 

 depart by the end of August. Small crustaceans and marine animals 

 are the chief articles of food, in pursuit of which the birds may be 

 seen swimming buoyantly on the waves — sometimes hundreds of 

 miles from land — and also picking the parasites off the backs of 

 whales and other cetaceans. The note is a sharp tweet, but the 

 female sometimes utters a low clink, dink. 



In breeding-time the female has the bill yellow with dark tip ; 

 forehead and crown blackish ; cheeks white ; under parts reddish- 

 chestnut ; feathers of the mantle blackish, with broad rufous 

 margins ; wing-coverts lead-grey tipped with white ; legs, feet and 

 lobed membranes yellow. This stage is shown by the bird in the 

 background. Length 8-25 in., wing 4-9 in. The male is smaller 

 and duller, with less defined white on the cheeks. In autumn the 

 chestnut gradually disappears ; by winter the under surface has 

 become white, the back pearl-grey, and the margins on the mantle 

 are white ; the bill is black, the forehead white, and a black streak 

 runs backwards from the eye. The bird in the foreground is in this 

 stage. The young mainly resembles the adult in autumn plumage, 

 but shows some tawny colour on the upper parts and breast. 



