RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 329 



THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 



PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS. 



Dearganallt. 



THOUGH met with at irregular intervals over the whole of the 

 western coasts of Scotland, this interesting species is only found 

 breeding in the Long island or the Outer Hebrides. There are 

 four or five stations there the most numerously frequented of 

 which is Benbecula, where from ten to twenty pairs are annually 

 found haunting the little lakes that abound in that island. There 

 are also several nurseries in the islands of North and South Uist 

 frequented by, at least, other twenty pairs, so that the entire 

 Dearganallt population on these three islands may be reckoned at 

 something less than fifty pairs. The time of their appearance 

 varies a little according to the season; generally, however, the 

 stations are occupied in the last week of May, and the nests found 

 in the first week of June. About the middle of July the families 

 gather together preparatory to their departure, which is also to 

 some extent regulated by the state of the weather; but as soon as 

 August sets in, young and old have entirely disappeared. The 

 season of 1867 was an exceptional one in Benbecula, and I presume 

 at the other stations also the Phalaropes being as late as the 

 second week of June in arriving, while their departure took place 

 rather before than after the usual time. In that year there were 

 at least twenty-five pairs on a shallow lake on the west side of the 

 island between Nunton and Castle Borve. I visited the island on 

 4th August, 1870, but did not see a single straggler either at this 

 lake or the picturesque sheets of water on the farm of Milton, in 

 South Uist, which I visited three days afterwards all the Phala- 

 ropes having disappeared three weeks previously.* At both stations 

 the birds on their arrival at once take up their quarters on these 

 lakes, where they may be seen swimming on the cairn surface, and 

 moving in circles with great elegance. Any one who chooses to 

 wade near enough, and make up his mind to stand knee deep in 

 very cold water, may sketch the beautiful creatures as they paddle 



* My friends Captain Feilden and Mr Harvie Brown found the first phalaropes 

 of the season, and took their eggs on the shores of one of the South Uist lakes, 

 on 29th May of the same year. 



