THE PHALAROPES. 195 



autumn and winter with tolerable regularity, but in some years 

 a large immigration takes place and many are killed on our 

 southern coasts. In the autumn of 1866 a large influx of 

 individuals was recorded, and others have occurred,, in 1869, 

 1886, and again in 1891. On the last occasion several were 

 sent to me at the British Museum, some from inland localities, 

 where they had been picked up dead. " On the east of Eng- 

 land," writes Mr. Howard Saunders, "this Phalarope seldom 

 alights above Norfolk, but in Scotland, according to Gray, it 

 visits all the shores from Berwick to the Orkneys ; it is, how- 

 ever, seldom met with in Sutherland, and has not yet been 

 recorded from the Outer Hebrides, though found within their 

 line. It is rare in Ireland ; a few were obtained in the south 

 in the autumn of 1886, and others in 1891." 



Range outside the British Islands. The Grey Phalarope is a 

 circum-polar species breeding in the Arctic Regions of both 

 hemispheres. In America it breeds from Alaska to Green- 

 land, and has been found as far north as 82 30 . It also 

 breeds in Spitsbergen and Iceland, and was found by Von 

 Middendorf in the Taimyr Peninsula. In winter the Grey 

 Phalarope visits the British seas, the Mediterranean, and the 

 Indian Ocean, and has been found as far south as New Zea- 

 land ; it has also been met with off the coast of Chili. 



Habits. In America the present species is known as the Red 

 Phalarope, this name being taken from the summer plumage, 

 whereas in England it is called the Grey Phalarope from the pre- 

 vailing colour of the bird when it visits us. Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 states that in Alaska it arrives within the last few days of May 

 and early in June, and remains near Point Barrow till the sea 

 closes in October. He writes : " It is much more gregarious 

 than its relative, and for a week or two after its first arrival fifty 

 or more flock together. These flocks were very numerous on the 

 ist of June, 1879, at the Yukon mouth, where I had an excellent 

 opportunity to observe them. In the morning the birds which 

 were paired could be found scattered here and there, by twos, 

 over the slightly-flooded grassy flats. At times these pairs 

 would rise and fly a short distance, the female, easily known by 

 her bright colours and large size, in advance, and uttering now 

 and then a low, musical 'clink, clink,' sounding very much 



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