328 PR^COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^. 



follo\y.s the whales, immediately ai^proaching, when one is seen to blow, in quest of 

 the marine animals thus brought to the surface. Whalemen always wateh the motions 

 of this biril, as it is well known that it can discern a whale at a much greater distance 

 than they can. A specimen which had been killed on the back of an Orca cjladlator 

 was brought to INIr. Kumlien by an Eskimo, and its oesophagus was found to be crammed 

 with small crustaceans, which were still alive, tliougli the bird had been killed several 

 hours. This species arrives in Cumberland with the breakiug-up of the ice, and is 

 said to have greater jjowers of flight than either the L. lohatun or the 8. Wilsoni, and 

 to fly much more swiftly. 



Prof. Alfred Newton found these birds breeding on Spitzbergen, though lie was not 

 able to discover any of their nests. The exploring expedition of the previous year 

 met with one, however, in the beginning of July up the North Fjord of the Sound. 

 Later in the month Professor Duner found a nest with three fresh eggs in Bell 

 Sound. They lay on the ground, without any bedding, among small splinters of stone. 

 Dr. Malmgren met with this species as far north as latitude 80° 10', and states that 

 it feeds chiefly on a species of nostoc ; but the stomachs of those Professor Newton 

 dissected on llossii contained gnats and their larvw. Professor Newton also refers 

 to this species as one of the birds of Iceland, where it is well known to the natives. 

 Faber met with three pairs, June 21, 1821, and again, on the 9th of July, with a 

 family party of this species. In 1858 Professor Newton discovered two pairs on a 

 lake in the same district vrhere Faber had found his, but they did not remain to 

 breed. In 1862 he received four eggs, well identified, which had been sent to him 

 from Iceland by a friend. 



Wheelwright found this species very rare in Scandinavia ; but although he never 

 obtained its eggs, lie had no doubt that it breeds on the coast of North Norway and 

 in East and West Finland. 



The Bed Phalarope is a distinguished swimmer. Sabine, in his memoir on the 

 Birds of Greenland, having met with a flock of four, in latitude 68°, mentions their 

 swimming in the sea among icebergs, several miles from the shore ; and Richardson, 

 in his Aiipendix to " Parry's Second Voyage,"' states that it was observed in the open 

 sea, out of sight of land, preferring to escape danger by swimming rather than by 

 flying. This bird feeds on the smaller thin-shelled Crustacea and on aciuatic insects, 

 which it pursues in the water and picks up as they are swimming ; and its attitude 

 has been com])ared to that of a Teal with the head drawn liackwards. 



This bird is common in the early summer in Greenland. In Parry's Arctic voy- 

 ages it was also observed to be abundant on the North Georgian Islands, and was 

 found breeding at Igloolik and on Melville Island. It is included in the list of birds 

 given in the zoology of Beechey's voyage, but the locality is not given. 



Dr. Walker met with a single specimen in Melville Bay, near Cape York. Rein- 

 hardt also enumerates it among the birds of Greenland, where it is evidently very 

 abundant during the breeding-season. C'aptain Blakistou received specimens from 

 Hudson's Bay which were in their summer plumage. 



In the summer of 1866 a very remarkable visitation of this bird took place in 

 Great Britain. It appeared in unusually large numbers, and a great many were shot. 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, in a pamphlet recording this unusual occurrence, states that the 

 first-comers made their appearance on the 20th of August, none being seen after the 

 8th of October. The greater number of those taken were shot between the 15th and 

 the 25tli of September, inclusive. Adult specimens and the young of the year were 

 obtained to the number of not less than two liundi'cd and fifty ; they were chiefly 

 taken in the south of England. 



