754 HIMANTOPUS PHALAROPUS 



EcJiasse blanche, French ; Fuzellos, Portug. ; Ciguenuela, Span. ; 

 Cavalier cV Italia, Ital. ; Grauschivanziger Stelzenlaufer, German ; 

 Steltkluit, Dutch ; Eodbenet-Styltelober, Dan. ; Chodulotschnik, 

 Soldatka, Russ. ; Bou-k&aiha, Moor. ; Bidji, Sugdah, Arab. ; Gaj- 

 paun, Tinghur, Hindu. 



<$ ad. (Sarepta). Hind crown, nape, and hind neck black intermixed 

 with white ; upper portion of back and wings deep black glossed with 

 bottle-green or purplish green ; outer tail-feathers white, the rest grey ; 

 rest of plumage pure white ; bill blackish ; legs rose-pink ; iris deep 

 carmine-red. Culmen 2'75, wing 9'5, tail 3'2, tarsus 4'6 inch. The 

 female has the hind crown and nape with the hind neck dull blackish 

 grey, and the back, scapulars, and inner secondaries dull blackish brown ; 

 otherwise like the male. The male sometimes has the whole head and 

 neck white. Young birds have the hind neck grey and the feathers on 

 the upper parts with brownish white margins. 



Hob. Southern Europe, visiting Britain, Holland, Denmark, 

 France, Switzerland, and Hungary ; the whole of Africa ; Central 

 and Southern Asia, east to China, south to India and Ceylon. 



In habits it is as a rule tame and confiding. It steps daintily 

 about or wades in the shallow water in search of food, which 

 consists of gnats, aquatic insects of various kinds picked off 

 the surface, and Iarva3. Its note is a clear, loud whistle, 

 but it is not a noisy bird. It breeds in May, often in large 

 communities, placing its nest on the dense floating herbage, in 

 which case it is strongly built of rushes and reed-bents, or else 

 on the dry mud, in which case the nest is a very slight 

 structure. The eggs, 4 in number, are paler or darker warm 

 stone-buff, boldly spotted and blotched with black or blackish 

 brown, and measure about 171 by 1*23. 



PHALAROPUS, Briss., 1760. 



1048. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 



PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS. 



Phalaropus hyperboreus (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 249 (1766) ; Hewitson, 

 ii. p. 370, pi. civ. fig. 1 ; Gould, B. of E. iv. p. 336 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit, 

 iv. pi. 83 ; Dresser, vii. p. 597, pis. 537, 539, fig. 2 ; (David and 

 Oust.), Ois. Chine, p. 482 ; (Audubon), B. Am. v. p. 295, pi. 340 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxiv. p. 698 ; Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. 

 p. 318 ; Bianf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 281 ; Saunders, p. 567 ; 

 Lilford, v. p. 56, pi. 22 ; Poynting, p. 95, pi. 22 ; P. lobatus(Lum.), 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 149 (1766) ; Ridgway,p. 145; P. angustirostris, Naum. 

 viii p. 240, Taf. 205 ; P. cinereus, Meyer, Taschenb. ii: p. 417, 

 (1810) ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 848. 



