THE GREY PHALAROPE. 343 



species of British and North American birds, sailed from Liver- 

 pool to New York in the autumn of 1834, and wrote to an orni- 

 thological friend as follows : — " I saw the grey phalarope on the 

 eastern side of the Great Bank of Newfoundland, for two days 

 in pairs and in considerable flocks, sometimes flying and at others 

 sitting on the water quite near the vessel. When we were some 

 hundred miles from land, a number of land birds came on board 

 that must have been carried to sea by a storm; — they were a 

 black-billed cuckoo, a passenger pigeon, a palm warbler, a swallow 

 and some cedar birds, all American species. They came on board 

 several days before our arrival/' The dates are not given in any 

 instance. 



Audubon, in the 3rd vol. (p. 404) of his ' Ornithological Bio- 

 graphy/ gives a pleasing and lively account of this species (under 

 the name of Phal.fulicarius) as observed by him on the American 

 shores. 



The red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus hyperboreus, Linn., 

 sp.) cannot be said to have visited the Irish coast or inland wafers, 

 though it breeds in the north of Scotland and in several of the Orkney 

 Islands. This species appears to be as attractive as the grey phalarope. 

 A highly interesting notice of it in its breeding-haunt in Sutherland- 

 shire will be found in Mr. St. John's Tour in that county, vol. i. p. 59. 

 It is there remarked of a pair : — " Nothing could be more graceful 

 than the movements of these two little birds, as they swam about in 

 search of insects, &c." * * * " Frequently they came within a 

 yard of where I was sitting, and after looking up, they continued 

 catching the small water-insects, &c. on the weeds, without minding 

 my presence in the least." In both hemispheres, this is a northern 

 species. It is a rare visitant to the English shores, and as such only, 

 is known (in autumn or winter) to the European countries south of the 

 British Islands. 



