LOBEFOOT. GRALLATORES. LOBIPES. 167 



shore ; and in the former element also its food is obtained, 

 consisting of water insects, vermes, and molluscous animals*. Food. 

 In England, we only know this bird as a rare visitant during 

 the period of its migration, and but few instances of its cap- 

 ture are on record. It is, however, plentiful in the north- Rare visi- 

 eastern parts of Europe, and in Northern Asia, as well as in E n gi an( j. 

 North America, where its polar migration, as in the two 

 first mentioned quarters of the globe, extends to a very high 

 latitude. Its nest is made in the grass, and other herbage Nest, &c. 

 not far removed from the edge of the water, and its four 

 eggs are of a deep oil-green colour, thickly spotted with 

 black. On the approach of autumn, and after the young 

 have attained sufficient strength, these birds leave their 

 breeding stations in the Orkneys, and the higher northern 

 regions, and migrate, for the winter season, to the shores of 

 the Baltic, and other eastern parts of Europe. 



PLATE 28*. Fig. 1. represents it in the summer plumage. 



Crown of the head, nape and hinder part of the neck, General 

 sides of the breast, and streak behind the eyes, ash- ^J np " 

 grey. Sides of the neck marked with an irregular patch Summer 

 of orange-brown. Throat, middle of the breast, and p uma e ' 

 all the under parts white ; except the flanks, which are 

 dashed with ash-grey. Back and scapulars black ; the 

 feathers being deeply margined with ash-grey and red- 

 dish-brown. Wing coverts blackish-grey ; the greater 

 ones terminated with white, and forming a bar across 

 the wings. The two middle tail-feathers black ; the 

 rest deep ash-grey, margined with white. Bill black ; 

 legs and toes greenish-grey ; the lobes upon the anterior 

 joint of the toes extending a little beyond the tip of the 



* According to Mr BULLOCK, who had frequent opportunities of observ- 

 ing this bird, during an excursion to the Scottish Isles, it swims with the 

 greatest ease, looking on the water like the beautiful miniature of a duck, 

 and carrying its head close to the back, similar to the Teal. He also found 

 it very tame, and so little alarmed by the report of a fowling-piece, as to- 

 permit him to fire repeatedly, without its moving from the spot. 



