THE GREY PHALAROPE. 339 



be two of these birds ; one swimming in a little pool of water 

 uear the shore, and the other wading at the edge. On the 18th 

 of October, 1834, a phalarope was shot near Holy wood, Belfast 

 Bay, when "swimming and ducking/' as the shooter expressed 

 it : the bird was alone. The Eev. Mr. Carter described one 

 as having attracted great attention on a small pond at the 

 seat of Sir John Eibton, about the year 1835. It was there 

 for some days and permitted a very near approach. Mr. E. Ball 

 saw a phalarope about the same year, which had been caught by 

 getting entangled in some herring nets spread out to dry. 

 Though but a few hours captured it fed from the hands of the 

 gentleman into whose possession it came, freely eating many 

 fragments of herring. " The self-confidence of tins bird " (as re- 

 marked by Mr. Ball) " in permitting the near approach of man 

 is a very curious circumstance. It is known as a general rule 

 that the wildest birds become soonest tame, and that the tamest, 

 such as the robin and house-sparrow, bear confinement with the 

 greatest impatience, yet here we have a bird permitting familiar 

 approach and reconciled at once to captivity." 



On the 1st of December, 1835, a phalarope was shot at Port- 

 marnock, near Dublin. 



On the 30th of January, 1836, a beautiful specimen in the 

 highest condition came into my possession just after it was shot at 

 the Salt-pans on the borders of Belfast Bay, very near the town. 

 The shooter described it as swimming most rapidly, and as 

 flying like a tern or sea-swallow : its agility in getting out of the 

 little pools of water left by the retiring tide to feed upon their 

 banks, and rushing back again to float upon their surface, as- 

 tonished him — all seemed to be but the effort of an instant. Seve- 

 ral seeds, and a specimen of the univalve shell Rissoa lahiosa, were 

 found in its stomach. In the month of September 1836, one of 

 these birds was seen (by Mr. E. Ball and Dr. Farran) sportively 

 playing at the edge of the water, near Malahide, on the Dublin 

 coast. Close by, on the strand, were a Lestris caiarractes and a 

 troop of godwits, all of which admitted of a close approach. 

 A. phalarope was shot in Dublin Bay soon after Christmas 1837. 



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