RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 263 
Fret. Yellow, with a tinge of green. The webs only 
connect the roots of the toes, the tips being edged with 
a series of free membranous lobes. (For a more detailed 
description of the foot, vide ‘Irish Naturalist,’ vol. x, 
po.) 
IripEs. Blackish-brown. 
AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH  ..: ... 8°25 in. Male smaller. 
WING a ee sce A Gee Oh 
BEAK : ee | kA 
TARSO-METATARSUS cae OED? ies 
EGe Oe fee caer ke 2bexX< °8S in: 
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. Phalaropus hyperboreus 
(Linneeus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, pl. 83; 
Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,’ vol. vii, pls. 537, 539, fig. 2 
Lilford, ‘ Coloured Figures,’ vol. v, pl. 22 
The Red-necked Phalarope, smaller and even more 
elegant in form than the preceding species, 1s a rare and an 
irregular visitor to the British Isles. It is for the most 
part a passing migrant in spring and autumn, although a 
few pairs take up their breeding-quarters on some of the 
Scotch Islands, viz., the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Outer 
Hebrides. On the east coast of Scotland it is seldom 
met with. There are several records from the east coast 
of England, and of recent years this bird has been observed 
lated with its aquatic habits. The body is densely covered with feathers, 
especially on the breast and abdomen. The latter regions are also 
thickly coated with down. In shape the breast greatly resembles that 
of the Gulls. It is full and rounded, and owes its contour, not to any 
modification in the form of the pectoral muscles or sternum, as compared 
with the same in a typical wading-bird, but to the more prorounced 
curvature of the feathers, which in most wading-birds are straighter in 
shape. The fat in the region of the breast differs from the soft, creamy, 
light-coloured, oleaginous fat of the typical Limicole, being of a firmer 
consistency, dark yellow in colour, closely resembling the fatty tissue of 
Gulls. 
