328 
PR^ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLJE. 
follows the whales, immediately approaching, when one is seen to blow, in quest of 
the marine animals thus brought to the surface. Whalemen always watch the motions 
of this bird, as it is well known that it can discern a whale at a much greater distance 
than they can. A specimen which had been killed on the back of an Orca gladiator 
was brought to Mr. Kumlien by an Eskimo, and its oesophagus was found to be crammed 
with small crustaceans, which were still alive, though the bird had been killed several 
hours. This species arrives in Cumberland with the breaking-up of the ice, and is 
said to have greater powers of flight than either the L. lobatus or the S. Wilsoni, and 
to fly much more swiftly. 
Prof. Alfred Newton found these birds breeding on Spitzbergen, though he was not 
able to discover any of their nests. The exploring expedition of the previous year 
met with one, however, in the beginning of July up the North Fjord of the Sound. 
Later in the month Professor Duner found a nest with three fresh eggs in Bell 
Sound. They lay on the ground, without any bedding, among small splinters of stone. 
Dr. Malmgren met with this species as far north as latitude 80° 10', and states that 
it feeds chiefly on a species of nostoc ; but the stomachs of those Professor Newton 
dissected on Rosso contained gnats and their larvae. Professor Newton also refers 
to this species as one of the birds of Iceland, where it is well known to the natives. 
Faber met with three pairs, June 21, 1821, and again, on the 9th of July, with a 
family party of this species. In 1858 Professor Newton discovered two pairs on a 
lake in the same district where Faber had found his, but they did not remain to 
breed. In 1862 he received four eggs, well identified, which had been sent to him 
from Iceland by a friend. 
Wheelwright found this species very rare in Scandinavia ; but although he never 
obtained its eggs, he had no doubt that it breeds on the coast of North Norway and 
in East and West Finland. 
The Red Phalarope is a distinguished swimmer. Sabine, in his memoir on the 
Birds of Greenland, having met with a flock of four, in latitude 68°, mentions their 
swimming in the sea among icebergs, several miles from the shore ; and Richardson, 
in his Appendix to “Parry’s Second Voyage,” states that it was observed in the open 
sea, out of sight of land, preferring to escape danger by swimming rather than by 
flying. This bird feeds on the smaller thin-slielled Crustacea and on aquatic insects, 
which it pursues in the water and picks up as they are swimming ; and its attitude 
has been compared to that of a Teal with the head drawn backwards. 
This bird is common in the early summer in Greenland. In Parry’s Arctic voy- 
ages it was also observed to be abundant on the North Georgian Islands, and was 
found breeding at Igloolik and on Melville Island. It is included in the list of birds 
given in the zoology of Beecliey’s voyage, but the locality is not given. 
Dr. Walker met with a single specimen in Melville Bay, near Cape York. Rein- 
hardt also enumerates it among the birds of Greenland, where it is evidently very 
abundant during the breeding-season. Captain Blakiston received specimens from 
Hudson’s Bay which were in their summer plumage. 
In the summer of 1866 a very remarkable visitation of this bird took place in 
Great Britain. It appeared in unusually large numbers, and a great many were shot. 
Mr. J. H. Gurney, in a pamphlet recording this unusual occurrence, states that the 
first-comers made their appearance on the 20th of August, none being seen after the 
8th of October. The greater number of those taken were shot between the 15th and 
the 25th of September, inclusive. Adult specimens and the young of the year were 
obtained to the number of not less than two hundred and fifty ; they were chiefly 
taken in the south of England. 
