BRITISH BIRDS 



incubation as well as attending to the young, but, according to the authority above 

 quoted, when the breeding ground is approached both sexes " fly around and call 

 anxiously." 



The Grey Phalarope, owing to its curiously lobed feet, is a powerful swimmer, 

 and flocks are often met with far out at sea, even among icebergs. The food 

 consists of gnats, water-insects, and small marine animals, sometimes obtained 

 from stretches of floating sea-weed, sometimes by following the schools of whales, 

 which seem to bring a supply to the surface. 



At all times these birds are tame and unsuspicious, and show little fear of man. 



THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 



Phalaropus hyperboreus (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 64. 



The Red-necked Phalarope visits our islands in summer to breed in the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands, on some of the Outer Hebrides, and in one district in Western 

 Ireland. It is known in England only as a passage migrant, more often seen in 

 autumn than at other seasons, but never in any numbers. This species breeds in 

 Iceland and Northern Europe, thence across Northern Asia and Arctic America, 

 and also in Greenland ; and migrates southwards in winter to warmer regions, in 

 Europe ranging as far as the Mediterranean, and also to Arabia, India, China, 

 Japan, the Malay Archipelago, and Central America. 



The birds, which usually breed in small companies, select for their nest a tussock 

 of grass in boggy ground, intersected with pools of water, and lay four eggs, in 

 ground-colour yellowish or olive, blotched and spotted with dark blackish-brown 

 or umber. 



Before pairing, the larger and more brightly coloured female woos the husband 

 of her choice, resembling the Grey Phalarope in this respect, and, like the other, 

 this charming little bird is extremely fearless and confiding, and may be seen 

 swimming or floating lightly on the water, from the surface of which it obtains a 

 good deal of the insect food on which it lives. 



Seebohm describes the note as "a clear sharp wick." 



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