2 
GREY PHALARORE. 
two. Shortly after, the pair got on wing and moved a few hundred yards further out to sea ; and having ascer- 
tained that they were in excellent plumage, we again hauled down a boat belonging to a friend in which I had 
previously been afloat and shot a Long-tailed Skua sheltering from the gale in the smooth water near the pier. 
The flag at the signal-station on the esplanade prohibiting beach-boats that ply for hire to put out had been 
hoisted on account of the gale to prevent accidents, and we could not have gone afloat had we not taken 
possession of and used a private boat. The birds were both turned over by the first barrel, and proved to be 
in very handsome clear grey plumage. Nearly the whole of the Phalaropes obtained at this time were in very 
poor condition, and these were the only pair, with the exception of two exceedingly large birds shot in the 
marshes between Lancing and Worthing, that could be considered up to the mark, these four being both plump 
and heavy. The immense flocks which appeared at this time seem to have been blown ashore along the whole 
of the south coast; they were mentioned in the papers as having been particularly numerous about Plymouth 
and still further west. It is evident that the Phalarope must pass our coasts regularly every autumn, though 
we only notice the species in any numbers after heavy gales from the south or east, when the greater part of 
the unfortunate travellers are disabled by the rough weather, and have not strength to continue their journey, 
being forced to seek shelter till the storm has blown over. On the evening of November 1st, 1873, while 
steaming past the entrance to Lowestoft harbour, our vessel nearly ran over one of these birds floating quietly 
on the long rollers caused by the strong tide rushing through the narrow channel inside the sands. 
As daylight was closing in on a stormy niglit in November 1870, I detected one of these birds running 
round a small puddle of rain-water on the King’s Road at Brighton, near the west end of the town. 
The Phalarope feeds on tiny flies and small water-insects, which it takes while swimming or running over 
the muds or among the blades of grass. I have often watched them picking up their prey within the distance 
of a few yards, and they have taken not the slightest notice of our presence. 
