92 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



remains practically gregarious throughout the year, 

 breeding in colonies of varying size. Its favourite 

 nesting-places are beside the marshy pools and 

 lakes on the tundras, at no great distance from 

 the Arctic Ocean. The nest is made upon the 

 ground, and consists of a mere hollow in the moss 

 or lichen, lined with a few dry leaves and grasses. 

 The four pyriform eggs are pale buff, tinged with 

 olive, blotched and spotted with dark brown and 

 paler brown. At the nest the old Phalaropes are 

 remarkably tame and confiding, showing little fear 

 of man, but when the young are hatched often 

 trying to delude him away by various deceptive 

 antics. As soon as the young are sufficiently 

 matured, the nesting-places are deserted, and young 

 and old repair to the sea for the remainder of the 

 year. 



The second British species, the Red-necked 

 Phalarope, is scarcely less known to the majority 

 of people than the Gray Phalarope. It seldom 

 visits the land except for breeding purposes, and as 

 its nesting-places in our area are not only few, but 

 in the remotest part of it, opportunities for observ- 

 ing its habits are few and fitful. It is a summer 

 visitor to certain parts of the Outer Hebrides, to 

 the Orkneys, and the Shetlands. Outside our limits 

 its range is very extensive. It breeds in suitable 

 ocalities throughout the Arctic regions of the 

 New and Old Worlds, above the limits of forest 

 growth ; in winter it wanders far southwards, and 



