GRET PHALAEOPE. 3 



twisting about with such rapidity that it was difficult to follow them with the 

 eye. Suddenly their course would change, and the compact flock, as if animated 

 by a single impulse, would rise high overhead, and, after a series of graceful and 

 swift evolutions, come sweeping down with a loud, rushing sound to resume their 

 playful coiu'se near the ground. Diu'ing all their motions the entire flock moves 

 in such unison that the alternate flashing of the underside of their wings and the 

 dark color of the back, like the play of light and shade, makes a beautiful 

 spectacle. When wearied of their sport the flock disbands and the birds again 

 resume their feeding. 



" When the Eed Phalarope arrives in spring its preference is for the flat wet 

 lands bordering the coast and rivers, where it remains to breed. They are not 

 usually found on the sea at this season, but on June 10, 1878, a number were 

 found swimming among the floating ice in the bay of Saint Michaels. Very early 

 in June the females have each paid their court and won a shy and gentle male to 

 share their coming cares. The eggs are laid in a slight depression, generally on 

 the damp flats, where the birds are found. There is rarely any lining to the nest. 

 Toward the end of June most of the young are hatched, and, by the middle of July, 

 are on the wing. The sites chosen for this bird's nest are very similar to those 

 taken by P. lobatus, except that the latter may pick drier situations. One Red 

 Phalarope's nest was found June 8, within six feet of a small brackish pool, the 

 eggs being deposited upon a nest of dried leaves under a dwarf willow. Soon 

 after the young take wing these birds gather in flocks and frequent the sea. 

 They breed all along the Arctic shores of Alaska and Siberia, wherever suitable 

 flats occur, and even reach those isolated islands, for ever encircled by ice, which 

 lie beyond 



" There is, perhaps, even greater variation in the eggs of this bird than in 

 those of the following species [Phalaropus hyperboreus]. The measiirements run 

 from 1*15 by '85 to 1'28 by '89. The ground-color runs through the same tints 

 as appear in the eggs of P. lobatus. The markings average much darker and 

 larger in fulicarius and about the large end it is common for the spots to be so 

 large and numerous as to become confluent and hide much of the shell. The 

 color of the spots is from pale chocolate to deep, bright umber brown. 



" The main distinction between these eggs and those of P. lobatus consists in 

 the generally much coarser and more deeply colored markings on eggs oi fulicarius." 



Mr. John Miu-doch gives the following interesting details respecting the 

 Grey Phalarope, which he observed at Point Barrow, Alaska * : — " One of 



* ' Eeport of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow Alaska [1881-1883] : Birds,' 

 by John Murdoch, p. 115. 



Z 



