566 GREY PHALAROPE. 
The Grey Phalarope appears to be circumpolar in its breeding- 
range. It is common on the Lidkoff Islands and at the Lena delta ; 
while its eggs have been taken by Middendorff in the Taimyr dis- 
trict, by Mr. Popham at the mouth of the Yenesei, and by Col. 
Feilden on Spitsbergen ; and many have been sent from the districts 
of Upernavik and Egedesminde in Greenland. Westward, Arctic 
explorers have noticed the bird as far north as 82° 30’, and it is 
abundant in summer on the shores of Alaska, as well as on the 
Asiatic side of Bering Sea. In winter its migrations extend to 
Chile and New Zealand, and China seems to be visited regularly, 
but there is much to be learned respecting the lines of passage in 
Asia, for the bird is rare on the Pamirs, and has only once been 
obtained in India (Calcutta, May 1846). In Europe, though seem- 
ing to miss the Volga valley, it is found on many inland waters and 
on the coasts down to the Mediterranean; it also visits North 
Africa. 
Courtship is conducted by the female, and in June the eggs, 4 in 
number, are laid in a depression near some small pool in the spongy 
peat or moss; these are olive-buff, thickly blotched with umber- 
brown—less pointed, more boldly marked, and rather larger than 
those of the Red-necked Phalarope : measurements 1°25 by ‘88 in. 
Incubation is performed by the male, who also takes charge of the 
young, which are sometimes on the wing by the middle of July and 
depart by the end of August. Small crustaceans and marine animals 
are the chief articles of food, in pursuit of which the birds may be 
seen swimming buoyantly on the waves—sometimes hundreds of 
miles from land—and also picking the parasites off the backs of 
whales and other cetaceans. The note is a sharp /wee¢, but the 
female sometimes utters a low clink, clink. 
In breeding-time the female has the bill yellow with dark tip; 
forehead and crown blackish ; cheeks white; under parts reddish- 
chestnut ; feathers of the mantle blackish, with broad rufous 
margins ; wing-coverts lead-grey tipped with white; legs, feet and 
lobed membranes yellow. This stage is shown by the bird in the 
background. Length 8-25 in., wing 4°9 in. The male is smaller 
and duller, with less defined white on the cheeks. In autumn the 
chestnut gradually disappears; by winter the under surface has 
become white, the back pearl-grey, and the margins on the mantle 
are white; the bill is black, the forehead white, and a black streak 
runs backwards from the eye. The bird in the foreground is in this 
stage. The young mainly resembles the adult in autumn plumage, 
but shows some tawny colour on the upper parts and breast. 
