316 SCOLOPACID^:. 



example in the collection of Mr. J. Whitaker, of Kainworth 

 Lodge, near Mansfield, was killed at Ramsdale, Notts. Its 

 rare visits can be traced along the east coast of Scotland 

 from Berwick to the extreme north, and irregularly along the 

 western side ; but in Ireland, strange to say, it has not as yet 

 been recorded. Yet although so scarce on migration, it is 

 said to breed in a few scattered localities in the counties of 

 Perth and Inverness ; and also, on what Mr. Harvie-Brown 

 considers very insufficient evidence, in Sutherlandshire. In 

 the Hebrides, especially on the Long Island, as well as in 

 North and South Uist, a variable number of pairs annually 

 rear their broods; as some formerly did in the Orkney 

 group, until nearly, if not quite extirpated by the greed of 

 the collector ; and in Shetland a few still find a refuge which 

 it would be undesirable to betray. 



The late J. D. Salmon, who visited Orkney in the summer 

 of 1831, says of the Red-necked Phalarope : "This beau- 

 tiful little bird appeared to be very tame ; although we shot 

 two pairs, those that were swimming about did not take the 

 least notice of the report of the gun ; and they seemed to 

 be much attached to each other, for when one of them flew 

 to a short distance, the other directly followed ; and while I 

 held a female that was wounded in my hand, its mate came 

 and fluttered before my face. We were much gratified in 

 watching the motions of these elegant little creatures, as 

 they kept swimming about, and were for ever dipping their 

 bills into the water ; and so intent were they upon their 

 occupation, that they did not take the least notice of us, 

 although within a few yards of them. The female has not 

 that brilliant bay colour upon the sides of the neck and 

 breast, so conspicuous in the male.* After some little 

 difficulty, we were fortunate in finding their nests, which 

 were placed in small tufts of grass growing close to the edge 

 of the loch ; they were formed of dried grass, and were 

 about the size of that of a Titlark, but much deeper. The 



* Mr. Salmon probably assumed that the duller-coloured bird was the female, 

 for it is now well-known that in this, as in the preceding species, the female is 

 both larger and more richly coloured than the male. 



