Tlic Hcron-likc Birds. 



191 



THE GREY 



PHALAROPE. 



(Crymnpliiliis 



fulicarius.) 



The Phalaropes 

 are peculiar little 

 birds and are re- 

 markable for their 

 lobed toes, and for 

 the serrated ridge on the hinder aspect 

 of the tarsus, in both of which characters 

 they resemble the Grebes. In the Grey 

 Phalarope, which, it should be remarked, 

 is only grey in winter and is rufous in 

 summer, the bill is short and does not 

 exceed the tarsus in length ; it is some- 

 what flattened and slightly widened at 

 the end. It is an inhabitant of the 

 Arctic Regions of both Hemispheres, 

 and only visits Great Britain on migration, but occurs sometimes in large numbers. 

 In winter it has been found as far south as the coasts of Chile, the Indian 

 Ocean, and even in the New Zealand seas. The female is a larger bird than 

 the male and does all the courting, the male being left to hatch out the eggs. 

 The nest is a depression in the ground, scantily lined with dr}' leaves, and the 

 eggs are four in number, very much pointed, and of a dark cla\'-brown or 

 chocolate, sometimes tinged with olive, and marked with dark brown or blackish 

 spots, and grey underlying spots. They measure about one-and-three-sixteenths 

 to one-and-three-eighths of an inch in length. 

 The bill 



Thk Grey Phalarope. 



THE 



RED-NECKED 



PHALAROPi;. 



iPltalaropits 



hypcrboreus.) 



IS longer m 

 this species, 

 and tapers 

 to a point, 

 while the 

 tarsus exceeds the length of 

 the middle toe and claw. 

 The colour also is difl'erent 

 from that of the Grey Phala- 

 rope, being slaty-grey above, 

 includmg the head and hind- 

 neck, with the lower throat 

 bright rufous, as well as the 

 sides of the neck. The Red- 

 necked Phalarope nests in 

 the Orkney and Shetland 



Tin. Red-necki.d Phai.akoi'E. 



