Genus PHALAROPUS, Briss. 



Gen. Char. Beak straight, depressed at its base ; both mandibles furrowed as far as the point, 

 the tip of the upper one obtuse, and bending over the under, which is pointed. Nostrils 

 basal, lateral, oval, encircled by a membrane. Feet moderate, slender. Tarsi compressed. 

 Toes, three before and one behind, those in front united as far as the first joint by a 

 membrane which is continued to their extremities in indented festoons; the hind toe 

 having only the rudiments of a membrane. Wings lengthened ; the first quill-feather 

 longest. 



RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 



Phalaropus hyperboreus, Lath. 

 Le Phalarope hyperbore. 



The two species of Phalaropes which are recognised as natives of Europe, have in their different stages of 

 plumage received various synonyms ; and the present species, from its more lengthened and attenuated bill, has 

 been separated by M. Cuvier, and advanced to rank as a genus, which he has designated Lobipes. With the 

 views of this great naturalist we do not in the present instance concur ; being unwilling that birds agreeing so 

 closely as these in habits, manners, and food, should be separated : though it must at the same time be con- 

 fessed that as the modification the bird here figured exhibits in the structure of the beak, points out a degree 

 of affinity to the genus To t anus, so on the contrary the other species evinces an approach to the Tringas, 

 T. hypolencos for example ; a bird which although it does not swim, except from necessity, is certainly endowed 

 with that power beyond its congeners. Retaining, however, the two European species under one and the 

 same genus, Ave may proceed to observe, that the Red-necked Phalarope is the least of the two, and that 

 the elegance of its form, together with the grace and ease of its actions on the water, cannot but excite the 

 admiration of every lover of Nature. It more particularly inhabits the northern portion of the globe, being 

 found both in Europe and America, frequenting the shores of the sea and large sheets of water whether fresh 

 or salt, but more especially the latter. In the British dominions, — Scotland, and its northern and western Isles, 

 are the most frequent places of resort, where it also breeds ; the specimens from which our figures were taken 

 having been collected among the Shetland Islands, in their mature and breeding plumage during the season 

 of 1832, by Mr. Dunn of Hull, who informs us that they were by no means uncommon, and that their familiar 

 and unsuspecting habits rendered them easy of acquisition. Their nests, which have been found among the 

 lochs of Sanda, as described by Mr. Salmon, were placed in small tufts of grass growing close to the edge 

 of the water ; the eggs four, one inch two lines in length, and ten lines and a half in breadth, olive-brown 

 spotted and specked with brownish black. M. Temminck states that in Germany and Holland this bird is 

 of rare occurrence. 



As we might expect from the lengthened form of the wings, the power of flight which the Red-necked 

 Phalarope possesses is very considerable ; nor is it less endowed with facilities for swimming, not only upon 

 the smooth surface of lakes and ponds, where it is sometimes seen, but also upon the rougher billows of the 

 ocean far from shore, where it finds itself quite secure. On land it does not display that lightness and activity 

 which characterize the Tringa in general ; in its lobed feet, however, it possesses an advantage over that 

 tribe in being able to walk on the soft and oozy mud which covers the sides of creeks and estuaries, among 

 which it finds its principal food, consisting of insects, worms, and minute mollusca. 



The changes of plumage which this bird undergoes are but little understood ; we know, however, that the 

 young differ materially from the adult birds, having a lighter colouring of plumage, wanting the red on the 

 sides of the neck, and all their feathers being margined with greyish white. M. Temminck, as well as other 

 naturalists, has fallen into an error respecting the sexual differences which characterize the Phalaropes, the 

 Sandpipers and Plovers, the Ruff excepted, — viz. in considering the largest and richest-coloured birds to be 

 males, whereas the contrary is in reality the case. This law appears to prevail with most of those birds that 

 produce but one brood of young during the summer, and the females are further remarkable for laying very 

 large eggs in proportion to the size of the bird. 



We take our description from adult specimens now before us. The whole of the head, the back of the 

 neck, the breast and flank, are of a dark ash colour ; throat, belly and vent, white ; between the breast and 

 throat intervenes a broad patch of beautiful chestnut-red ; the remainder of the upper plumage of a brownish 

 black, the feathers having a rufous margin ; secondaries tipped with white, which forms a band across the 

 wings ; bill black ; hides brown ; feet olive-brown. Length about six inches. 



We have figured both sexes in their summer plumage ; the female will be readily distinguished by her more 

 brilliant colour and larger size. 



