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PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. QI 
reluctance, always preferring to swim out of 
danger. Its food principally consists of insects, 
but crustaceans, worms, and scraps of vegetable 
eulsitances, are eaten, “The ‘call (note; of) this 
Phalarope is described as a shrill wee¢, and the 
alarm note, heard most frequently during flight, as 
a rapidly repeated dzck-abick-a. 
The Gray Phalarope is not known to breed 
anywhere on continental Europe, but does so in 
Spitzbergen, in Iceland, Greenland, and probably 
throughout all suitable parts of Arctic America 
and Asia, as far north as land extends. In winter 
it is very widely dispersed, even wandering as far 
as New Zealand. The Gray Phalarope is one of 
those species that change greatly in the colour 
of their plumage according to season. In winter 
dress—the plumage perhaps most familiar to British 
observers—the back is gray, and the under parts 
pure white; but in summer the whole of the latter 
are rich bright bay, and the feathers of the upper 
parts are dark brown with pale reddish - brown 
margins. In this plumage it is known as the 
Red Phalarope. Another interesting fact is that 
the female is much more brightly and_ richly 
coloured than the male, and the latter not only 
performs the duty of incubating the eggs, but 
takes the greater share in tending upon the young! 
It may thus be inferred that the pairing habits 
of this Phalarope are most singular, the female 
conducting the courtship! The Gray Phalarope 
