THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 253 
and is said to be not unfrequent in Holland and France. A writer 
of the latter country says that ‘ by aid of its webbed feet it is enabled 
to traverse, without sinking, the softest and wettest mud; this it 
searches with its curved bill, and when it has discovered any prey, 
a worm for instance, it throws it adroitly into the air, and catches 
it with its beak’, 
THE GREY PHALAROPE 
PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS 
Wintey—plumage in front and beneath white ; back of the head, ear-coverts, 
and a streak down the nape, dusky ; back pearl-grey, the feathers dusky 
in the centre, a white transverse bar on the wings; tail-feathers brown, 
edged with ash; bill brown, yellowish red at the base; irides reddish 
yellow; feet greenish ash. Summer—head dusky; face and nape 
white; feathers of the back dusky, bordered with orange-brown ; front 
and lower plumage brick-red. Length eight inches and a half. Eggs 
greenish stone colour, blotched and spotted with dusky. 
THE Grey Phalarope, without being one of our rarest birds, is not 
of irregular occurrence. Its proper home is in the Arctic regions, 
from whence it migrates southward in winter. It is a bird of varied 
accomplishments, flying rapidly like the Snipes, running after the 
fashion of the Sandpipers, and swimming with the facility of the 
Ducks. In all these respects it does not belie its appearance, its 
structure being such that a naturalist would expect, @ priovt, that 
these were its habits. During the breeding season, the Phalarope 
quits the sea, its usual haunt, and repairs to the seashore, where it 
builds a neat nest, in a hollow of the ground, with grass and other 
weeds, and lays four eggs. The usual time of its appearance in 
Great Britain is autumn; sometimes it comes then in numbers ; 
but specimens have been obtained in winter. On all these occasions 
it has shown itself singularly fearless of man. 
THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 
PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS 
Head deep ash-grey; throat white; neck bright rust-red; under plumage 
white, blotched on the flanks with ash; back black, the feathers bordered 
with rust-red ; a white bar across the wing; two middle tail-feathers 
black, the rest ash, edged with white; bill black; irides brown; feet 
greenish ash. Length seven inches. Eggs dark olive, closely spotted 
with black. 
THE Red-necked Phalarope, or Lobefoot, is, like the preceding 
species, an inhabitant of the Arctic regions, but extends its circle 
