212 OUR RARER BIRDS 



The parent birds show little concern for their nests when 

 an intruder visits them. Quietly swimming about in the 

 sedgy pools, or running along the marshy banks, they now 

 and then utter a feeble weet-weet of mild remonstrance. As 

 is the case with the Dunlin, they are remarkably social during 

 the breeding season, and numbers gather on the favourite 

 ponds from the nests which are scattered up and down the 

 higher and dryer ground. The food of this bird is composed 

 largely of beetles and the larvse of various water insects. The 

 bird also probes the soft mud with its slender-pointed bill for 

 worms, and is an adept at catching flies. The Eed-necked 

 Phalarope is not often seen on the wing ; it spends by far the 

 greater portion of its time in the water, where it floats as 

 buoyantly as a cork or a bit of paper ; but when flushed it is 

 capable of flying very rapidly, and has no small command 

 over itself in the air. When the young are safely reared and 

 autumn is at hand, the Phalaropes forsake their moorland 

 haunt and wander southwards to their winter quarters in 

 warmer and more genial lands. 



