102 NEWTON ON BIRDS IN GREENLAND. 



(SS.) Totanus flampes. Yellowshank. 



One sent from Greenland in 1854toHerr Moschler (Journ. 

 f. Orn. 1856, p. 335).* 



20. Calidris arenaria. Sanderling. 



Scarce, and said not to breed further south than lat. 68°, but 

 the young have been obtained at Godthaab. Found on the East 

 Coast by Graah, and by the German Expedition on Sabine Island 

 where it was breeding. Said to have been found breeding in con- 

 siderable numbers on the Parry Islands ; but authentic eggs have 

 been only recently made known to naturalists (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1871, pp. 56, 546, pi. iv., fig. 2. ; Zweite deutsche Nordpolarfahrt, 

 ii. p. 240), and are very rare in collections. About the size of a 

 Skylark. May be distinguished from other Sandpipers by wanting 

 the hind toe, and from the small Plovers, which have only three 

 toes, by the mottled colouring (grey, rufous and black) of its 

 upper plumage. The abundance of this bird during many mouths 

 of the year on the coasts of the British Islands, and many other 

 countries both of the Old and New World, together with the abso- 

 lute want of any positive and trustworthy information as to the 

 peculiarities which would seem to accompany its habits during 

 the breeding-season, and the selection of its places of nidification, 

 render these matters deserving of close attention. 



21. Phalaropus fulicarius. Grey [or Red] Phalarope. 



"Kajok?" 

 Said to be the latest summer-bird to arrive, to be very rare in 

 the south and not to breed below lat. 68° N., but thence north- 

 ward to be common. Its common English name of " Grey " 

 Phalarope is exceedingly inapplicable when in its summer 

 plumage, for then the whole of the lower parts are of a bright 

 orange-red colour, the upper parts being diversified with dark 

 brown and tawny-yellow. The breeding-habits of this bird are 

 little known, and it would seem to be often mistaken for the next 

 species, which is far more common, and readily distinguished by 

 the white plumage of its lower parts — even in summer, and its 

 more slender bill. 



22. Phalaropus hyperboreus. Red-necked Phalarope. " Nel- 

 loumirsortok." 



Seems to be the commonest species of Phalarope throughout 

 the country, and possibly occurs very far to the northward, 

 though in the Arctic Regions of the Old World it does not go any- 

 thing like so far as the preceding. The difference between the 

 two birds has been given above.f 



* Catoptrophorus semipalmatus. Willet. A bird seen by the late Prof. 

 Goodsir in Exeter Sound was ascribed by him to this species (Arctic Voyage, 

 p. 145) ; but the matter must be regarded as doubtful in the highest degree. 



f Phalaropus wilsoni, though never yet met with far to the northward, may 

 be not unreasonably expected to occur, if only as a straggler, within the 

 Arctic Circle. It can be readily distinguished from either of the foregoing by 

 its longer and more slender bill and legs. 



