80 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



oistible importunity are extraordinarily fascinating; even its begging 

 can be excused, so great are its charms. Yet the phalarope is still 

 more attractive. It is a shore bird, which unites in itself the quali- 

 ties of its own order and those of the swimming birds, living, as it 

 does, partly on land, partly in the water, even in the sea. Buoyant 

 and agile, surpassing all other swimming birds in grace of motion, 



Fig. 9. Skuas, Phalarope, and Golden Plovers. 



it glides upon the waves; quickly and nimbly it runs along the 

 shore; with the speed of a snipe it wings its zigzag flight through 

 the air. Confidently and without fear it allows itself to be observed 

 quite closely, and in its anxiety for the safety of its brood usually 

 betrays its own nest, with the four pear-shaped eggs, however care- 

 fully it has been concealed among the reeds. It is perhaps the 

 most pleasing of all the birds of the tundra. 13 



