600 



(B. of W. of Scotl. p. 329) says that, "though met with at irregular intervals over the whole 

 of the western coasts of Scotland, this interesting species is only found breeding in the Long 

 Island or the Outer Hebrides. There are four or five stations there, the most numerously 

 frequented of which is Benbecula, where from ten to twenty pairs are annually found haunting 

 the little lakes that abound in that island. There are also several nurseries in the islands of 

 North and South Uist frequented by at least twenty other pairs, so that the entire Dearganallt 

 population on these three islands may be reckoned at something less than fifty pairs. The time 

 of their appearance varies a little according to the season ; generally, however, the stations are 

 occupied in the last week of May, and the nests found in the first week of June. About the 

 middle of July the families gather together preparatory to their departure, which is also, to some 

 extent, regulated by the state of the weather ; but as soon as August sets in, young and old have 

 entirely disappeared. The season of 1867 was an exceptional one in Beubecula, and, I presume, 

 at the other stations also — the Phalaropes being as late as the second week of June in arriving, 



while their departure took place rather before than after the usual time I have a specimen 



of this Phalarope in my collection in full summer plumage from the Island of Skye, but I have 

 failed to discover any breeding-place there. It has also been found there in winter by Captain 

 Cameron ; but in other localities on the mainland it is a mere straggler. On the east coast it 

 occurs at irregular intervals from Berwick to Orkney. I have myself met with it in East Lothian 

 and Fifeshire. Two specimens were shot in the Old Sinks, Aberdeen, by Mr. A. Mitchell — one 

 on the 15th, the other on the 18th of September, 1870." 



On the English coast it is only a rare visitant, found during migration, and appears to be less 

 common than it used to be, especially on the east coast ; for Mr. Stevenson remarks that it is now 

 exceedingly rare on the coast of Norfolk, and he enumerates only eight instances on record of it 

 having been found there during the last twenty years. Yarrell says that it has been obtained in 

 Sussex, Surrey, Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Northumberland ; and I have seen examples procured on 

 the coast of Sussex. It has not been recorded from Ireland, where it does not appear ever to 

 have occurred. It is found in Greenland, where it breeds ; and, according to Professor Newton, 

 it is very common in Iceland all over the island, arriving late in May, and commencing at once 

 to breed. It is found in the Fseroes, where it breeds near some of the lakes in the hills ; and 

 Baron von Droste Hiilshoff says (J. f. O. 1869, p. 345) that he took its eggs there early in June. 

 It is common in Northern Scandinavia; and in a letter just received from Mr. Robert Collett he 

 informs me that " it breeds throughout Finmark, its chief habitat being the regions north of the 

 Polar circle, where it is extremely common on all the islands, as well as on the coasts of the 

 mainland. It frequents grassy localities, where pools of water are scattered about, all along the 

 coast up to the Varanger fiord, but it has not been observed on the deep mountain-lakes. Like 

 many of those species which belong to the true arctic fauna, it occurs during the summer in the 

 more elevated swamps of the Dovre in as low a latitude as 62°, not being met with in the regions 

 between that and their high northern home. In Southern Norway it is rare during migration ; 

 and individuals are occasionally seen during the autumn or winter months off Christiania. Nilsson 

 says that it is very rare on the southern coasts of Sweden. It breeds only in the extreme north 

 of Finland, being, according to Dr. Palmen, found only as a straggler during migration in the 

 central and southern portions of that country ; J. von Wright observed three near Kuopio, in 



