GREY PHALAROPE 261 
with hundreds of miles from land; and off the coasts it is 
“a delightful sight to watch these birds gathering their food 
in the ‘high- running surf, or when that is done peacefully 
floating outside the ‘breakers ” (Newton). 
This bird will also pick the parasites off the backs of 
whales and other cetaceans (Saunders). 
Voice—The voice is clear and sharp, resembling the 
syllable tweet; the note of the female, sometimes heard, 
may be syllabled klutk-ink-ink. 
Nest.—The Grey Phalarope nests on the ground, laying 
its eggs in a depression scratched in soft, moss-covered soil. 
The breeding-haunts are usually near water, 72.e., by the 
margin of a small lake or pool. The eggs, four in number, 
are light yellowish, shading to greenish-brown, well marked 
with blotches and spots “of dark brown. It is a rather 
singular characteristic of Phalaropes, that while the male 
takes the task of incubation and of rearing the young, his 
spouse, more active and gaily plumed, carries on the major 
part of the courtship. 
When hatching, this species is wonderfully tame, allow- 
itself almost to be handled. 
The Grey Phalarope will live in captivity, and ‘birds, even 
when slightly wounded by gunshoi, have thriven for months 
and years. Thompson, in his ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ 
mentions an instance of a Phalarope which got entangled in 
fishing-nets spread out to dry. A few hours after capture 
the bird fed upon fragments of fish from the hands of its 
owner. The same writer also states, “ A Phalarope, shot 
near Belfast as long ago as 1818, was wounded in the wing 
and came into the possession of Mr. John Sinelaire. He 
kept it on his pond for several months. It was fed on 
worms, was very tame, and its buoyancy on the water met 
with the highest admiration.” 
Geographical distribution. — This species resorts in 
the nesting-season to the high Arctic regions of Hurope 
(viz., Spitzbergen), Asia, and America. On its winter 
dozen ‘ maggots’ or larve of a fly, such as might be found along banks. 
They were very slender and nearly half an inch long. A previous meal 
consisted of about the same quantity of a small easteropod shell, prob- 
ably Hydrobia ulve, which occurs abundantly in brackish water round 
the coast of Ireland. The surfaces of the shells were much worn, and 
must have been in the gizzard for some time, while the maggots were 
quite fresh.” 
