THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 667 
PHALAROPODIDAE Phalaropes 
Phalaropus fulicarius (Linné). Red Phalarope 
Tringa fulicaria Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 148, 1758: Hudson Bay. 
Length about 7 inches, with slender bill and lobed feet; in spring, crown and wings blackish, 
back streaked black and ochraceous, rump gray; sides of head white, wings with a conspicuous 
white bar; below dull chestnut. Winter, mark through eye, crown and nape dark brown, back 
blue with a few dark feathers edged with ochraceous; below white, the throat washed with buff. 
Breeds in the arctic regions, winters in seas of southern hemisphere. 
Chubb (1905) publishes the first definite record for Liberia on the basis of an 
adult male, without exact locality, taken March 23, 1905, by J. M. Pye-Smith. 
I have elsewhere recorded (Allen, 1927) that in early November I saw numbers 
of these birds at sea off Portuguese Guinea and Cape Blanco. There may be a 
large wintering ground of the species off this part of the African coast. 
GLAREOLIDAE Pratincoles 
Galachrysia nuchalis liberiae (Schlegel). Chestnut-collared Pratincole 
Glareola nuchalis liberiae Schlegel, Notes Leyden Mus., vol. 3, p. 58, 1881: Liberia. 
Length 7 inches, long winged; above dark grayish brown, paler on cheeks, fore neck, and 
breast; a narrow eyebrow line passing into the pale reddish-brown band marking off the frontal 
shield on breast; belly, upper and under tail-coverts white; middle tail-feathers black with white 
bases, outer ones mostly white, outermost with black tip and edge. Liberia to Cameroons. 
Reichenow has shown that Oberholser’s (1899) record of Glareola marchet 
from the St. Paul’s River refers to this form, and it is the same as that called 
G. megapoda by Bittikofer. Like X7phidopterus, this pratincole is closely limited 
in habitat to bare rocky islands or sand banks in the larger streams. The follow- 
ing is asummary of Bittikofer’s very interesting notes on the species. He found 
them common near Bavia, St. Paul’s River, on the many bare rocky islets and 
sand banks in the stream, but never on the banks of the river itself. Often, morn- 
ing and evening, they were seen on the wing hawking over the water for insects. 
On March 15, he found them nesting on these islands, depositing one or two 
eggs in a hollow scratched in the hot sand near a bit of rock and quite without 
lining. In his later paper (1888, p. 99) he adds that he collected this bird at 
Fisherman Lake, as well as at the falls of the Du, and on the St. John’s and Cestos 
rivers. On a succeeding visit to his old stations, Bendo and Buluma, on Fisher- 
man Lake, he was anxious to see what had become of the small colony of these 
birds that he had formerly found on some mangrove-covered and bare rocks in 
the lake between these stations. He had never found more than eight birds 
here, and on this later visit found six. They seem to delight in the vicinity of 
falls, for he found a colony below the falls of the Du and again, on the St. John’s 
River, he shot three on the rocks above the rapids. A large series was collected 
near the falls of the Farmington River; their stomachs were found to be filled 
with termites, probably from a swarm of flying ants. Chubb (1905) records four 
birds taken by Reynolds on the rocks of the St. Paul’s River. He found them 
as usual confined to rocks in the stream, and notes that their ‘‘wings stand out 
