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LOBIPES 4H YPERBOREUS.
Red-necked Phalarope.

Tringa lobata (pt.), Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 64.

——— hyperborea, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 249,

— fusca, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom, i. Oman

Phalaropus hyperboreus et fuscus, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 775
emerascens et ruficollis, Pall. Zoog. Ross,-
angustirostris, Naum. Vog. Deutschl., 1
cereus, Briss. Orn., tom. vi. Deel:
Wilhamsii, Simm. in Linn

Asiat., tom. ii. Da2os:
836, tom. viii. p. 240, tab. 205.

. Trans., vol. viii. p. 264.
Lobipes hyperboreus, Cuv. Rég. Anim., 1829, tom. i. p. 532.

 

 

 

 

 

Waen Bullock visited the Orkneys in 1813, and Mr. Salmon in 1831, this species was an abundant summer
resident on those islands : but at this period (1866) it probably no longer resorts there; for Mr. J. H. Dunn
. r re . . . ’ 7 Oe .
writes, “The bird has been extirpated in Orkney by collectors and the improvement of agriculture.” I am
Cs . c

sure that there is no one of my readers ill share wi neeeonere . “
y readers but will share with me in regretting the expulsion of so beautiful

Is there no living proprietor in Orkney that will guard
a morass from future interlopers and entice this species back again? If this w

and interesting a creature from the British Islands.
ere done, the laudable act,
I am sure, would be rewarded by success. A little further north the bird is still abundant, and Iceland
would satisfy the cravings of the egg-collector for the next century ; if not, there are Greenland, Norway, and
Lapland to fall back upon, for in those countries it still breeds in comparative safety. ‘

It would be natural to suppose that a bird whose breeding-quarters are so near at hand would be plentiful
in England during the autumn and winter months ; yet this is not the case; for the Red-necked Phalarope is
at this season less common than the Grey, whose country of reproduction is almost unknown, but which’is,
doubtless, in the far north. The range of this species is much greater than that of its ally, and I question
if there be any part of the world too distant for its winter visits, I have seen specimens from California,
Mexico, Guatemala, and the coast of Chili, and also from China and India.

In England it has been killed in many counties ; and if it be not included in the work of Thompson on the
‘ Birds of Ireland,’ it must be that the bird has not as yet attracted the notice of the ornithologists of that
country, for assuredly it must now and then occur there. Writing to me respecting this bird, Mr, Bond says,
«The first specimen I ever had was shot by a friend of mine in September 1842, near Southend, Essex, where
he saw the Phalarope swimming on the water, like a little Duck, about a mile from land: not knowing what
it was, he shot it, and kindly brought it to me; it is in the grey or winter plumage. I have also a very
handsome male, in summer plumage, shot while running between the metals on the Great Eastern Railway,
near the Stratford Station, early in June 1852.” This is the nearest to London I have known of one being
obtained. Mr. Stevenson informs me that “This species, always considered much more rare on the
Norfolk coast than the Grey Phalarope, has of late years become extremely so; indeed I know of but four
specimens killed in this country during the last fifteen years. It is, however, very remarkable that a bird,
generally so scarce and irregular in its visits, should have appeared on the same parts of our coast in the
three successive autumns of 1846, 1847, and 1848.” |

The following interesting account of this elegant little species is from the pen of te a - ee on
its perusal will, I am sure, impress my readers with a desire to Bee, at least once in their lives, the bird in <
state of nature, and induce them to excuse me for reprinting it in the present work :—

«The Red-necked Phalarope is certainly the most beautiful little wader of my acquaintance.
the loch, in a little pool which was covered with weeds of

eful than the movements of these two little birds as they
htly on the broad leaves of the Water-lily,
Though not exactly web-footed,

There were

a pair of them, male and female, feeding near
different kinds. Nothing could be more grac
swam about in search of insects, &c. Sometimes they ran lig
a raft, and entirely kept them out of the water. ! 7
: The attachment of these two birds to each otber oe
d so far apart as to be hidden by the inter-
ed a low and musical call of

which served them for
the Phalarope swims with the greatest ease.
very great; whenever in their search for food they ponte es
vening weeds, the male bird stopped feeding stony a a ae but perfectly expressive of her
ee es we ae eae a at hand quite safe; on hearing her
ee Bae aking his way towards her; she also

i time m
eding, but at the same pe
. ent or two, and after a few little notes of endear-

answer, which one might suppose t
the male immediately recommenced fe
flew to meet him: they then joined company for a mom