RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 



1 27 



curve towards the tip, and also by the circumstance that the middle 

 tail-feathers scarcely exceed the others in length. In the summer- 

 plumage the general colour of the upper-parts is dark brown inclining 

 to black, mingled with rufous and white, the latter forming broad margins 

 to the inner secondary feathers ; while the greater portion of the under- 

 surfacc is white tinged with rufous 

 and spotted with dark brown, 

 although the hind part, or abdo- 

 men, is pure white. In its 

 general greyish tone the winter- 

 dress is very like that of the 

 dunlin, but shows less white on 

 the secondaries ; and this simi- 

 larity of the plumage of the two 

 birds at this season affords a 

 strong argument for including 

 them in the same genus. The 



plumage of immature birds resembles that of the adults in summer. 

 Six and a half inches is the total length of the adult. 



Northern Europe and Asia are the breeding-resorts of this species, 

 which in winter visits the Mediterranean countries and southern Asia. 

 During the nineteenth century only eleven instances of the occurrence 

 of this bird in the British Isles were recorded, most of these beine in 

 the southern and eastern counties of England, although one is from 

 Ireland. Yorkshire is the most northern limit recorded ; and of the 

 eleven records, four occurred during the spring, and the rest during 

 the autumn-migration. In the case of such a rare straggler, it would 

 be superfluous to make any reference to habits and nesting. 



-tE ROWLAND WARD STUDIOS 



HKOAD-BILLKD SANDPIPKK. 



Red-necked 



Phalarope 



(Phalaropus 



hyperboreus). 



For want of an English name the soft-plumaged 

 birds constituting the genus PJialaropus (meaning 

 " coot-footed ") are commonly designated by an 

 Anglicised form of their scientific title. A much 

 better designation would, however, be lobe-footed 

 sandpipers, since they are in reality nothing more than sandpipers 

 specially modified for a much more aquatic mode of life than is usual 

 in this group of birds, although they have been called plovers. Still it 

 is very difficult, and perhaps inadvisable, to attempt to change well- 

 established names, and phalaropes they will therefore probably remain. 

 By many ornithologists these birds are regarded as representing a sub- 

 family, the Phalaropinai, by themselves ; but according to the system 



