GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 199 



Allied Forms. — Phalaropus fulkarius, already treated of in 

 the preceding chapter, and P. wilsoni also mentioned in the 

 allies of that species (see p. 195). 



Time daring which the Red-necked Fhalarope may 



be taken. — August ist to March ist. 



Habits. — ■ Although the migrations of the Red-necked 

 Phalarope are not very extended in the western Palaearctic 

 region they are much more so in other parts of the world, as may 

 be gathered from the remarks on the geographical distribution of 

 this bird. It is a bird of the sea, and though it does not appear 

 to wander so far from shore as the Gray Phalarope, it does not 

 visit the land much except during the breeding season. It is a 

 tame and confiding little bird, as I have often remarked, especially 

 when on the pools and lakes where it nests j and at all times it is 

 extremely social. Parties of Red-necked Phalaropes may be 

 seen all the summer through swimming in company. This bird 

 swims remarkably well and buoyantly, nodding its head as it 

 progresses, usually in a zigzag direction, across the pool, and 

 picking insects from the water, or snapping at them as they flit 

 by as it goes. It also runs daintily about the swampy margins of 

 the water, and I have seen it walk lightly over floating masses of 

 weed. The Red-necked Phalarope spends most of its time on 

 the water, rarely taking wing, although it can fly both rapidly and 

 well. The note of this species is a rather low bu: shrill weet. 

 Its food consists largely of insects and their larvse, but worms, 

 crustaceans, and other small marine animals are also eaten. 



Nidification. — The breeding season of this species com- 

 mences in May in Scotland, but in more Arctic latitudes it is 

 several weeks later. Its breeding grounds are returned to each 

 season. These are usually situated on marshy moors, generally 

 in the neighbourhood of pools' and not far from the sea. In the 

 valley of the Petchora Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown found 

 the nest amongst long grass in the centre of a thick tuft a foot or 

 more from the ground, but in Scotland it is usually made on the 

 ground. This nest is very slight, merely a hollow lined with a 

 few bits of dry grass and rush. The eggs are four in number, 

 buff of various shades or pale olive in ground colour, blotched 

 and spotted with umber-brown, blackish brown, and pale brown. 



