316 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



three together, and this in tranqnil weather when there had been no 

 previous gales to send them to our coasts. 



One day when sailing from Barnstaple to TnstoM\', we passed quite close 

 to two swimming like tiny ducks upon the water, ^^'e have one in our 

 collection which was shot at Instow in January, which is in perfect 

 winter plumage. Several which we have seen obtained in the autumn 

 had still traces of the summer plumage in the yellow and rufous edges to 

 some of the feathers. These Phalaropes present a good instance of the 

 method by which a change of colour is accomplished in the plumage of 

 various birds — not by shedding the feathers, but by the wearing off of 

 their margins and the growth of the feathers outwards. The autumn of 

 lyGG was memorable for the great number of Phalaropes which appeared 

 upon our southern coasts after a great storm. Numbers were reported 

 both from North and South Devon, as well as from the Cornish and 

 Dorset coasts ; and the Bristol Channel shared in the visitation, as 

 some were procured at Weston-super-Mare. A fcAV were driven far 

 inland, appearing in strange places, one having been actually caught 

 inside the rail waj-- station at Bishop's Lydeard. The violent southerly 

 gale of October 12th and 13th, lb91, again compelled a vast number of 

 Grey Phalaropes to seek the shelter of our southern coasts. Flocks of a 

 hundred or more were noticed at Weymouth, as many as had been seen in 

 Poole Harbour on a former visitation, and there was not a locality on the 

 sea-board of the S.W. counties from which Grey Phalaropes were not 

 reported. Mr. G. F. Mathew, E.N., twice crossed the Bay of Biscay in 

 H.M.S. ' Tyne' during that stormy month, and informs us that on the 4th, 

 in the middle of the Bay, the ship passed through several small tlocks of 

 Grey Phalaropes; and on 2Sth, on their return from Malta, the birds 

 were encountered again about the same spot. A strong Nor'-easter was 

 blowing, and the Grey Phalaropes were sitting very buoyantly on the 

 water, and were so tame that they would hardly get out of the way of 

 the ship. They were in little flocks of five or seveji. 



The Grey Phalaroped obtained on our shores are almost always in immature or 

 ■winter plumage, but Mr. Gratcombe shot a female in September IMUi, strongly stained 

 with red on the ui.der surface (Zool. 186G, p. fiOO). Mr. Henry Nic-hoUri, of Kings- 

 bridge, killed a fine male in snnnner plumage in May 18-44; it was swimmiig 

 between the quays ot¥ Findar Lodge (II. N., MS. Notes). Ouo in moult, with sonie 

 orange-brown feathers of the breeding-plumage still remaining, was captured alive by 

 a boy in Stonehou^e Creek, on August 5th, 1S70 (J. Gr., Zool. 1876, p. oUS^). A speci- 

 men, in full summer plumage, whicli was in the collection of the late Mr. Bond, was 

 said to have been obtained in Devonshire. Plmlaropes are rarely seen after October, 

 and winter occurrences are not frequent. One was seen in December 1872, and one on 

 January 10th, 1873, at Plymouth, and these were the only two instances known to 

 Mr. Gatcombe in thirty years up to 1873. One occurred at Kiugsbridge, Decem- 

 ber 17th, 187.'i, and one at Devils Point, Stonehouse, December 5th, 187('» (J. G., 18()8, 

 p. 3445; 1877, p. 4t>; and in lift.). One at Bantham, November 27th, and an(.ther 

 at the same place I)ecember 4th, 1880 (E. A. S. E.). Tliere appears to be a large foi'n\ 

 which is occasionally met with. One obtained on Northam Burrows on September 24tii, 

 ]8(>9, measured 10 inches in length (Zool. 1870, p. 2025) ; and one at Plymouth in 

 October 1870, was nine inches long (Zool. 1871, p. 2442). (The length of a female, 

 which is slightly larger than the male, is given as eight and a quarter inches in the 

 4th ed. of Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 314.) The contents of the stomachs of various Grey 



