568 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 
Malayan region, China and Japan, its line through Central Asia 
crossing the Pamir range. Unlike its congener, it avails itself of 
the route by the valley of the Volga, especially in spring ; it visits 
the Black Sea district and some of the inland waters of Central 
Europe; and it occurs irregularly on both sides of the Mediterranean 
basin, though rare to the west of Italy.. It is seldom found in the 
west and north of France, Holland or Germany ; but towards the 
north-east end of the Baltic it is not uncommon. on the autumn 
passage, when it also visits the Swiss lakes. 
The nest is in a tuft of grass in a wet place, and the 4 eggs are 
often greener in ground-colour, blacker in their markings, and 
smaller and more pointed than those of the Grey Phalarope: measure- 
ments 1'15 by ‘82 in. Courtship is performed by the female, who is 
sometimes accompanied by two males; and the cock-bird usually 
incubates, though both parents display great anxiety after the young 
are hatched. The note is a low plcep, pleep, or wit, wit, wit. The 
food consists of small crustaceans, marine insects, worms &c. Like 
the last-named species, the Red-necked Phalarope swims well, 
though not noticed so far from land. 
In summer the adult female has the head, hind-neck, and 
shoulders lead-grey ; the feathers of the back and wings somewhat 
darker, with a mixture of pale rufous ; tips of the wing-coverts and 
secondaries white, forming a bar ; tail-feathers ash-brown, the middle 
pair darkest ; chin pure white ; sides and front of the neck chestnut ; 
centre of the neck and upper breast lead-grey ; under parts white ; 
bill black ; legs, feet and lobes greenish. Length 7°5 in. (bill -9), 
wing 4°4 in. The male is smaller, and has the colours on the head 
and neck much duller and less sharply contrasted. In winter the 
forehead and the greater part of the crown are white ; nape anda 
streak through the eye sooty-brown ; dorsal feathers margined with 
white ; cheeks and under parts nearly pure white. The young in 
autumn have rufous and afterwards buffish-white margins to the 
upper feathers, but subsequently resemble their parents; though 
their feet are yellowish and the toes are much less lobed. 
The third and largest inember of the genus, Phalaropus wilsont, 
is confined to America. Mr. J. Whitaker has a specimen which is 
said to have been shot “‘some years ago” in Leicestershire, but 
Mr. Montague Browne denies this (Verteb. Leicest., p. 151). A 
genus, Steganopus, has been devised for this species, which has a 
long slender bill, like our Red-necked Phalarope. Some ornitholo- 
gists have placed the Grey Phalarope in a third genus, Crymophilus. 
