The Grey Phalarope. 59 



an irregular visitor to us, at the best of times, some years not occurring 

 at all, at otters appearing in great numbers, especially in the extreme S.E. 

 In the autumn of 1866 there was a great irruption, and Mr. J. H. Gurney calculated 

 that nearly five hundred were slaughtered, and half of these in Sussex alone. It 

 seldom occurs with us except in autumn, and on (or near) the east or south coasts ; 

 rarer northwards, in Ireland and on the west coast of Scotland hardly ever seen. 

 It breeds in Spitsbergen ; in small numbers in the south of Iceland ; not, as far as 

 has been ascertained, along the northern shores of Europe (though Trevor-Battye 

 saw a pair in Kolguiev) ; but along the arctic shores of Northern Asia and America, 

 including Greenland, in fair, though nowhere large, numbers. In autumn it migrates 

 down Scandinavia and Western Europe, often missing our shores, to winter by the 

 Mediterranean. In Central Europe it seldom occurs, but crosses Asia to the 

 Persian Gulf and North India, even reaching New Zealand, but has not been 

 recorded from Japan or China. It is also found on the coasts of America, and 

 has wandered as far south as Chili. Its distribution in winter is puzzling, and I 

 am inclined to think that many individuals winter not far from their breeding 

 grounds, wherever the sea is open, and that the southern migrants are only a 

 small proportion. 



Colour of female in summer (Point Barrow, Alaska, 5, 6, '82) : bill yellow, 

 with dark tip ; crown and around bill sooty black ; cheeks and ear-coverts white ; 

 shoulders, scapulars, tertiaries, and central upper tail-coverts, sooty black, with 

 broad buff margins ,■• wing- coverts ashy- grey, with narrow white tips, median series 

 with broad white tips, forming a white bar across the wing ; primaries nearly 

 black, with white shafts ; tail dark grey, with narrow buff margins ; under parts 

 deep ruddy chestnut, except the black chin, white axillaries and under wing- coverts ; 

 legs and feet yellow, rather darker at the joints. Length 7^ to 8j inches, closed 

 wing about five. Males are decidedly smaller and duller in colours, having the 

 under parts mottled with white, and the feathers of the head with buff margins, 

 like those of the back. 



In winter the bill is black, as is also the back of the head; the forehead, 

 sides of head, throat, and under parts generally, white ; back of neck, secondaries, 

 and back, clear blue-grey. This plumage is gradually assumed, and the bird as 

 met with on our shores, though it has lost the ruddy under parts, has generally 

 traces of darker summer plumage on the back. 



Young birds differ from adults in winter dress in shewing more sandy on the 

 borders of the feathers above, including the crown, and some muddy red on the 

 upper breast. 



"The nest (I quote from the 'Report of the International Polar Expediton 



