BED-NECKED PHALAKOPE 267 



The Ked-necked Phalarope breeds sparingly in the 

 Shetlands, Orkneys, and Outer Hebrides, also in Perthshire, 

 Inverness, Sutherland, and in the West of Ireland. 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, this bird breeds in 

 many countries of Arctic Europe (including Iceland and 

 the Faroes, where it is plentiful), Asia, and America. In 

 other words, it has practically a circumpolar breeding- 

 range. On migration in autumn and winter it reaches 

 Southern Asia, eastward to Japan, and westward to lat. 

 30 N. along the American coast. It occurs chiefly as a 

 migrant in the south-eastern part of the European 

 Continent. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult female nuptial. Head, hind-neck, and 

 upper back, dull slate-grey ; rest of back and scapulars, 

 darker grey, some of the feathers of the latter being edged 

 with buff ; wing-coverts and secondaries, edged with white, 

 forming an alar bar ; primaries, brow r n ; tail, light brown, 

 except the middle feathers which are of a darker shade ; 

 chin, white ; sides and front of neck, chestnut-brown ; 

 lower neck and upper breast, dull slate-grey ; lower breast 

 and abdomen, white. 



Adult male nuptial. Resembles the female plumage in 

 pattern, but the colours of the head and neck are duller and 

 less defined ; the chestnut-brown is much less extensive 

 and is not carried across the front of the lower throat. 



Adult winter, male and female. Front and top of head, 

 white ; back of head, eye-stripe, and hind-neck, dark brown ; 

 back, scapulars, and wings, greyish, the feathers being 

 margined with white ; cheeks, throat, breast, and abdomen, 

 whitish. 



Immature, male and female. Resembles the adult 

 winter plumage, except that the feathers of the back and 

 wings are dark greyish, with light buff edgings. 



BEAK. Black ; straight and very slender. 1 



FEET. Greenish. 



IRIDES. Blackish-brown. 



1 The beak is a characteristic feature, and is proportionately longer 

 and much more slender than that of the Grey Phalarope. 



