Family CHARADRIIDyE. Genus Phalaropus. 



Subfamily Totaninm. 



GRAY PHALAROPE. 



PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS— (Z/««^//j-). 



Geographical Distribution. — British .• Rare and irregular 

 visitor, chiefly in autumn and winter, and generally met with 

 sparingly almost every year, occasionally appearing in great 

 "rushes," or "visitations,'' after the manner of the nomadic 

 migrants, in which class it must be placed. Has been most fre- 

 quently observed on the southern coasts of England ; on the 

 eastern coasts least frequently north of the Wash. In Scotland it 

 appears to have been met with from Berwick to the Orkneys, 

 and has recently been obtained in the Outer Hebrides. It has 

 occurred in Wales, but is altogether rarer on our western coast 

 line ; whilst in Ireland it is of very infrequent appearance, although 

 several were captured in the south during the last unusual 

 visitation (1886). By far the most extensive visitation took place 

 in the autumn of 1866, when it has been estimated that upwards 

 of five hundred birds were taken, nearly half of this vast amount 

 in Sussex ! Twenty years previously, in the autumn of 1846, 

 another irruption took place, which curiously enough again 

 favoured Sussex in a remarkable degree. By a noteworthy 

 coincidence, twenty years later than the great visitation, namely 

 in the autumn of 1886, another and a smaller one occurred, 

 whilst in 1869 it is said an irruption took place of some im- 

 portance, both of which were almost confined to the south. 

 Many of these visitors wandered from the coast to inland districts. 

 Foreign : Circumpolar region ; but not known to breed on any 

 part of Continental Europe. Like the Knot, the Curlew, Sand- 



