RED-NECKED PHALAEOPE 



295 



regarded as indigenous. Unfortunately, the British race of this 

 bird is now nearly extinct, victims to the ' cupidity of the cabinet,' 

 specimens of the bird and its eggs being in great request among 

 collectors. 



The red-necked phalarope is equally at home on land or water, 

 and picks up its food on the sandy or muddy margins of the marshy 

 pools it frequents in summer, and from the surface of the water, as 

 it swims rapidly about, sitting high, and with head set back like a 

 gull. 



The nest is placed on the ground, among heather or herbage 

 and grass, at some distance from the water. The four eggs are 

 pale brown in ground-colour, spotted with blackish brown and 



grey. 





FIG. 100. GREY PHALAROPE. natural size. 



The grey phalarope (Phalaropus fuUcarius], irregular in its visits 

 like the last species, appears in larger numbers when it does come. 

 Its visits to the south and south-east coasts of England occur in 

 autumn and winter. Its range in summer is circumpolar, and it has 

 been found breeding as far north as latitude 82 30'. The breeding 

 plumage is reddish chestnut, the female being brightest in colour. 

 In winter, when it arrives in this country, its under parts are pure 

 white, and the whole upper parts a delicate pale grey. 



