90 BRITISH SEA: BIRDS. 
most of their time upon the water, only visiting 
land for any lengthened period during the breeding 
season. 
There can be, little doubt: that’ the ‘Gray 
Phalarope is a more abundant visitor to British 
waters, in autumn and winter, than is generally 
supposed. It has little reason to visit land at all 
at such a season, unless driven towards it by 
exceptionally severe weather. Occasionally, how- 
ever, this Phalarope has occurred on our coasts in 
great numbers, something similar to the visitations 
of Sand Grouse, with which doubtless most readers 
are familiar. The autumn of 1866 is specially 
famous for a great “rush” of Gray Phalaropes 
to the British seas and coasts, and it is estimated 
that upwards of 500 were caught, of which large 
number nearly half occurred in Sussex! The 
most recent irruption of Gray Phalaropes was in 
1886. The Gray Phalarope lives almost entirely 
out at sea, after the breeding season is over, 
wandering immense distances from land, and even 
accompanying whales, for the sake of catching the 
various small marine creatures disturbed by the 
“blowing” of those mighty animals—hence to the 
sailor it is often known as the “Whale Bird.” So 
hardy is this little bird, that it has been watched 
swimming about amongst icebergs far from land. 
It swims lightly and buoyantly as a foam fleck, with 
a peculiar bobbing motion of the head, but it is 
not known to dive. It apparently flies with 
