GREY PHALAROPE. 313 



in winter plumage, was obtained by the late E. Blyth, on 

 the 11th of May, 1846, in the Calcutta bazaar; but there 

 seems to be no record of its occurrence further east ; nor is 

 it at all easy to say what becomes of the birds annually bred 

 in the north, or what lines they take on their migrations to 

 winter quarters. In America, it has been traced as far as 

 New Jersey on the east side, and to California on the west. 



The nest is a mere depression in the peat, in which four 

 eggs are usually laid. These are of a stone-colour, tinged 

 with olive, spotted and speckled over with dark brown, 

 especially at the larger end ; and measure about 1*15 by 

 •85 in,, being very similar to those of the Red-necked 

 Phalarope, next in order ; but, as a rule, they are slightly 

 broader and blunter in shape. An egg which was in the 

 Author's collection, and is figured in Mr. Hewitson's work, 

 was brought from Melville Island, and also the female 

 bird in summer plumage, from which the figure in the back- 

 ground of the illustration was drawn and engraved. The 

 Danish collectors in Greenland say that the present species 

 generally breeds on small islands, whereas its congener 

 prefers the mainland. 



Grey Phalaropes feed on the smaller thin-skinned Crus- 

 tacea and aquatic insects, which they search for and pick up 

 from the surface of the water while swimming ; and their 

 attitude resembles that of the Gull, with the head drawn 

 backwards. Such decided swimmers are the Phalaropes, 

 that Sabine mentions having shot one out of a flock of four, 

 on the west coast of Greenland in latitude 68°, while they 

 were swimming in the sea amongst icebergs, three or four 

 miles from the shore ; and Richardson, in his Natural His- 

 tory Appendix to Parry's second Arctic voyage, says, they 

 were observed upon the sea, out of sight of land, preferring 

 to swim out of danger rather than take wing. 



The females of this species appear to assume more per- 

 fect colours, in the breeding-season, and to retain them 

 longer than the males. A female in fine summer plumage 

 has the beak yellow, the point dark brown ; around the base 

 of the beak, and on the top of the head, dark brownish- 



VOL. III. s s 



