appear to be much more frequent on the eastern and 

 southern coasts than elsewhere, but there are few- 

 En ghsh counties in which stragglers have not been 

 occasionally found. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., has recorded the slaughter of 

 five hundred Grey Phalaropes between August 20th and 

 October 8th, 1866; of these about half were obtained 

 in the county of Sussex. The year 1886 was also 

 remarkable for the numbers of this species that visited 

 our southern coasts ; fourteen were brought from the 

 neighbourhood of Christchurch, Hants, to Mr. Ed. Hart, 

 the well-known taxidermist, in October and November 

 of that year, and a very great number recorded from 

 other places. The singular tameness of these pretty 

 birds has been noticed by almost every author who has 

 personally become acquainted with them, and is fully 

 verified by my very limited experience, as above- 

 mentioned. The attitude of the bird, seen by us 

 at sea, reminded me much of a Teal, with the head and 

 neck drawn closely in and slightly thrown back. The 

 breeding-haunts of the Grey Phalarope are the circum- 

 polar regions ; the eggs, four in number, are of a 

 greenish yellow, thickly spotted with dark brown, and 

 are said to be laid in June in slight depressions in grass 

 or on shingle, with very little, if any, nest. In this 

 family of birds the females are larger and more bril- 

 liantly coloured than the males, and the contrast between 

 the bright colours of the summer-plumage and the sober 

 grey and white of winter is peculiarly striking. 



