128 



PLOVER GROUP 



here followed ' thc\- arc classed as a section of the Totanina; specially 

 distinguished b\' the presence of a looped, or scalloped, web along each 

 side of the three front toes, and also by their habit of swimming in the 

 open sea, sometimes even out of sight of land. Three species are 

 known, each of which has been made the type of genus by itself, 

 although this seems a somewhat unnecessary refinement in classification. 

 Two are circumpolar species, while the third, except for stragglers, is 

 American. In all three species the cocks perform the duties of in- 

 cubation, and, as is usual in such cases, arc inferior in point of size and 



MOUNTED IN THE ROWU»KO WARD STUDIOS 



KED-NIXKED I'HALAKOi'i; (ILMALE). 



the development of the summer breeding-plumage to their emancipated 

 partners. 



The red-necked phalarope, which is the type of the group, is 

 a bird measuring about 7^ inches in length, with a slender sub- 

 cylindrical beak, of which the tip is narrower than the shank of 

 the leg, which latter is longer than the middle toe and claw. In her 

 summer-plumage the hen is dark bluish or leaden grey above with a 

 streak of buff on each side of the fore part of the back, a patch of 

 rufous on each side of the neck, and white tips to the greater wing- 

 coverts, forming a conspicuous bar across the wing ; while the flanks 

 are slaty, and the rest of the under-parts white. The cock displays 



' IJIanford, Fauna of British India — Birds, vol. iv. p. 280. 



