KED-NECKED PHALAEOPE 263 



FEET. Yellow, with a tinge of green. The webs only 

 connect the roots of the toes, the tips being edged with 

 a series of free membranous lobes. (For a more detailed 

 description of the foot, vide ' Irish Naturalist,' vol. x, 

 p. 67.) 



IRIDES. Blackish-brown. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 8*25 in. Male smaller. 



WING 4-9 



BEAK 1 ,, 



TARSO-METATAESUS ... 0'9 ,, 



EGG 1-25 X '88 in. 



RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. Phalaropus hyperboreus 

 (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 83; 

 Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vii, pis. 537, 539, fig. 2 ; 

 Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 22. 



The Red-necked Phalarope, smaller and even more 

 elegant in form than the preceding species, is a rare and an 

 irregular visitor to the British Isles. It is for the most 

 part a passing migrant in spring and autumn, although a 

 few pairs take up their breeding-quarters on some of the 

 Scotch Islands, viz., the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Outer 

 Hebrides. On the east coast of Scotland it is seldom 

 met with. There are several records from the east coast 

 of England, and of recent years this bird has been observed 



lated with its aquatic habits. The body is densely covered with feathers, 

 especially on the breast and abdomen. The latter regions are also 

 thickly coated with down. In shape the breast greatly resembles that 

 of the Gulls. It is full and rounded, and owes its contour, not to any 

 modification in the form of the pectoral muscles or sternum, as compared 

 with the same in a typical wading-bird, but to the more pronounced 

 curvature of the feathers, which in most wading-birds are straighter. in 

 shape. The fat in the region of the breast differs from the soft, creamy!, 

 light-coloured, oleaginous fat of the typical Limicolce, being of a firmer 

 consistency, dark yellow in colour, closely resembling the fattv tissue of 

 Gulls. 



