92 BRITISH | SEABIRDS: 
remains practically gregarious throughout the year, 
breeding in colonies of varying size. Its favourite 
nesting-places are beside the marshy pools and 
lakes on the tundras, at no great distance from 
the Arctic Ocean. The nest is made upon the 
ground, and consists of a mere hollow in the moss 
or lichen, lined with a few dry leaves and grasses. 
The four pyriform eggs are pale buff, tinged with 
olive, blotched and spotted with dark brown and 
paler brown. At the nest the old Phalaropes are 
remarkably tame and confiding, showing little fear 
of man, but when the young are hatched often 
trying to delude him away by various deceptive 
antics. As soon as the young are sufficiently 
matured, the nesting-places are deserted, and young 
and old repair to the sea for the remainder of the 
year. 
The second British species, the Red-necked 
Phalarope, is scarcely less known to the majority 
of people than the Gray Phalarope. It seldom 
visits the land except for breeding purposes, and as 
its nesting-places in our area are not only few, but 
in the remotest part of it, opportunities for observ- 
ing its habits are few and fitful. It is a summer 
visitor to certain parts of the Outer Hebrides, to 
the Orkneys, and the Shetlands. Outside our limits 
its range is very extensive. It breeds in suitable 
ocalities throughout the Arctic regions of the 
New and Old Worlds, above the limits of forest 
growth; in winter it wanders far southwards, and 
