130 LOBIPEDID.E. 



of Scotland, but only accidentally lower ; and on the con- 

 tinent of Europe it is very rarely seen further south than 

 before mentioned. The locality the Phalarope frequents by 

 preference, is invariably the sea, from whence it only departs 

 during the breeding-season, to the rivers and lakes in its 

 nearest vicinity ; it has very frequently been met with at sea 

 by mariners among floating icebergs. Its principal time is 

 spent on the water, swimming, which it perforins with ease 

 and grace, nodding its head at every stroke of its legs, and 

 when it runs about on the shore, it resembles the sandpipers 

 in every movement, but owing to its thick feathering the 

 Phalarope looks much larger than it in reality is. We 

 are enabled to state from experience, that its flight is ex- 

 ceedingly quick, and will fairly be a match for a snipe. The 

 note uttered by the Phalarope is best expressed by the 

 word pick, pick ! uttered in a quick and high tone. 



The food of the Phalarope consists in insects of the 

 smaller kinds, most probably those that are found on or 

 near sea-weeds ; gnats, and their larvse. 



In the month of June several instances are named of 

 the Phalarope having come to breed near ponds and small 

 lakes in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, &c, but never far 

 distant from the sea-shore ; the bird deposits her four eggs 

 in a hollow on the ground, the nest being carefully lined 

 with a few grasses, or formed among the short herbage 

 present ; the parent birds are very much attached to their 

 young, and remain with them until they are fully fledged, 

 and able to follow them to the sea-shore. 



The entire length of the Phalarope from the tip of its beak 

 to the extremity of its tail, is eight inches and a quarter, the 

 expanse of its wings fifteen inches, the wing from the carpus 

 to the tip, five inches four lines ; the tarsus one inch. 



In the plumage of the adult bird in summer, a dusky 



