EED-NECKED PHALAEOPE. 3 



After this T quartered about for a considerable time, and in the best of good 

 tempers. I found some more half-finished nests, and a few deserted ones, 

 and finally I discovered yet another nest containing four eggs, another with a 

 single one, all quite fresh. Oddly enough, in this part of the swamp I 

 saw but the one bird already mentioned, while in the furthest part, among 

 the rushes, they were, as I have stated, abundant. I can only account for 

 this by supposing that they had young ones which they had led away for 

 concealment, and that the few birds which had eggs must have escaped my 

 notice. 



"The fresh eggs found in the second nest are of a pale yellowish olive 

 green, spotted all over, but rather more so at the broad end, where the 

 marks are also larger, with several shades of brownish and purplish grey 

 and deep umber brown. All are of a lengthened pyriform shape ; three 

 measure one inch two lines in length by ten lines in breadth, but the 

 fourth is one line longer and one line narrower. Those of the first set 

 are not quite so sharply pointed ; the ground-colour is warmer, and the 

 markings are of a redder tinge. They all measure one inch three lines by 

 ten lines 



" While wading in the swamp, the first indication I had of the presence of 

 the birds was the peculiar note, heard singly at first from one individual; 

 but afterwards it was echoed from all sides by numerous voices. I scarcely know 

 to what the note can be likened except to the word quilp, uttered rapidly several 

 times in succession, and then after a pause again repeated. This seems to be 

 common to both sexes, but as they take wing the male utters a sharper cry. 

 Often, when closely pursued in the water, they utter a loud chattering noise, at 

 the same time swimming almost as fast as one can wade." 



Mr. H. Seebohm writes * : — " My son, who visited the Outer Hebrides last 

 spring, has furnished me with the following particulars of the breeding of this 

 charming bird on the island of North Uist : — ' The Red-necked Phalarope is 

 extremely common in North Uist, but, as far as I know, they are entirely 

 confined to one colony in the north-west of the island. The place chosen by 

 these birds as a breeding-ground is a large marsh about two miles from the sea, 

 one mass of small pools and islands covered with grass. The nests are situated 

 on the edge of the marsh on the dry ground ; and although the water was alive 

 with birds during my visit, I did not find a single nest on any of the small islands. 

 The nest is simply a slight depression in the ground, very much like that 

 of a Snipe, containing four eggs. As soon as the birds were disturbed from the 



* 'History of British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 91. 



