LXIV. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 



(Phalaropus hyperboreas.} 



I HAVE met with this amiable little bird in Iceland. It is 

 naturally very tame and confiding, and swam about so near me 

 that I was able to do a picture of it while I was sketching beside 

 the lake at Thingvalla. Redshanks and many other birds were 

 about, but none came so near me. At Thingvalla we were 

 expected to sleep, or at least to take shelter, in the church for 

 the night ; but being neither tired nor sleepy, I went out with a 

 wakeful companion and sketched, while he went off to bathe. 

 Afterwards we had a row on the loch, till the far off, longed for hour 

 of breakfast should come. Our attention was attracted to a 

 long-tailed Duck Hying near us, fluttering and tumbling about as 

 if badly hurt. We supposed it must have been wounded by one 

 of the shooting party the day before, and my companion was 

 just taking aim to put an end to its apparent misery, when we 

 discovered a brood of downy young ones in the water close by, 

 and found it was performing these manoeuvres to lead us away 

 from them. When we turned away in another direction, the 

 distracted mother went quietly to her brood. 



The Phalarope both wades and swims well. It has half- 

 webbed feet, lobated like that of the Coot. 



There are many and various birds in Iceland. Long-tailed 

 Ducks are plentiful. Wild Swans often flew whooping over- 

 head, and Whimbrels were constantly circling over us, con- 

 tinually uttering their plaintive and monotonous cry. They 

 are like Curlews, but a good deal smaller. Of singing birds, 

 we saw and heard the Thrush-like Redwing. The Snow Bunting 

 was numerous. 



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