236 Wonders of the Bird World 



America, but only three species are known throughout this 

 wide area. Of these the South American species (R. 

 seniicollaris) shows no difference between the colouring of 

 the sexes, but in the African and Indian forms of Painted 

 Snipes, although both sexes are decidedly handsome birds, 

 the female is much brighter in colour than the male, and 

 has chestnut on the neck and throat, while she is also 

 larger in size than her mate. This has doubtless some- 

 thing to do with the protective colouration of the bird 

 during the nesting-season, but nothing is known as to 

 whether the male, which is the plainer in colour, performs 

 the duties of incubation. 



The greatest difference in the colour of the se.xes of the 

 Wading-birds is met with in the Phalaropes, small but 

 elegant little creatures, which breed in the Arctic Regions of 

 both the Old and New Worlds. They swim remarkably 

 well, and their plumage is more like that of the Grebes, 

 being very close-set and oily, and they likewise show another 

 Grebe-like character in the serrated or saw-like edge which 

 is noticeable on the hinder margin of the tarsus. In their 

 breeding-homes they are extremely tame little birds, but 

 the female is most in evidence, and the following amusing 

 account of the lady's forwardness in courting is given by 

 Mr. E. VV. Nelson, a well-known American field naturalist, 

 who saw much of bird-life in Alaska. The memoir written 

 by this author on his natural history collections is a work 

 little known in England, and the picture of these Arctic 

 regions is so well painted by the author, that I have been 

 induced to transcribe his account of the Red-necked 

 Phalarope {Phalai-opus Iiypcrborens) in full.^ 



"As summer approaches on the Arctic shores and the 

 coast of Bering Sea, the numberless pools, until now hidden 

 under a snowy covering, become bordered or covered with 



■ ' Report upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska in the 

 years 1 877-1 881,' pp. 99-100. 



