p. H. BAHR : RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 207 



by, but only on looking them with his bill did he find 

 that they were inanimate objects and then rush off to 

 find his charges. One would have thought that he would 

 have learned by experience, but he repeated this per- 

 formance time after time, and I greatly regretted the fact 

 that I had not enough plates to take him thus employed. 

 The female showed no traces of anxiety at all but held 

 herself aloof, swimming and feeding quite unconcernedly 

 in the loch beyond. 



The young showed no desire on this, or on the following 

 day, to take to the water, in fact it would appear that 

 they were not yet fitted for it, for on the next day we 

 found three of their number drowned in a shallow puddle. 

 Fig. 6 is from a photograph, and shows the male bird 



V'V.. 





^ifm' 





M\ 



Fig. 6. — The male endeavouring to entice away the joung. 



endeavouring to entice the remaining young one out of 

 the range of the camera. 



Althougli other observers have noted much variation 

 in the time at which this species breeds, yet I think it 

 must be admitted that this was an extreme case, since 

 no other j)air in the vicinity had as yet begun to lay. 



