Genus PHALAROPUS, f in k
G e n . C h a r . B e a k straigh t, depressed at its b a s e ; b o th m andibles fu r row ed as fa r as th e point,
th e tip o f th e u p p e r one obtuse, an d b en d in g o v e r th e under, w h ic h is pointed. N o s tr ils
basal, lateral, oval, enc irc led b y a membrane. F e e t moderate, slender. T a rsi compressed.
T oes, th ree b efo re an d one b eh in d , those in f ro n t un ited as fa r as th e first jo in t b y a
membrane w h ich is continued to th e ir extremities in ind ented festoons; th e hin d toe
h a vin g o n ly th e rudiments o f a membrane. W ings len g th en ed ; the first q u ill-fea th e r
longest.
RED-NE CK ED PHALAROPE.
P h a la rop u s h yp e rb o reu s, L a th .
L e P h a la rop e hyp erbor6.
T he two species o f Phalaropes which are recognised as natives o f Europe, have in their different stages of
plumage received various synonyms; and the present species, from its more lengthened and attenuated bill, has
been separated by M. Cuvier, and advanced to rank as a genus, which he has designated Lobipes. With the
views o f this great naturalist we do not in the present instance concur; being unwilling that birds agreeing so
closely as these in habits, manners, and food, should be separated : though it must at the same time be confessed
that as the modification the bird here figured exhibits in the structure o f the beak, points out a degree
o f affinity to the genus Totanus, so on the contrary the other species evinces an approach to the Tringas,
T . biypoleucos for example; a bird which although it does not swim, except from necessity, is certainly endowed
with that power beyond its congeners. Retaining, however, the two European species under one and the
same genus, we may proceed to observe, that the Red-necked Phalarope is the least of the two, and that
the elegance of its form, together with the grace and ease o f its actions on the water, cannot but excite the
admiration o f every lover of Nature. It more particularly inhabits the northern portion o f the globe, being
found both in Europe and America, frequenting the shores o f the sea and large sheets o f water whether fresh
or salt, but more especially the latter. In the British dominions,— Scotland, and its northern and western Isles,
are the most frequent places of resort, where it also breeds; the specimens from which our figures were taken
having been collected among the Shetland Islands, in their mature and breeding plumage during the season
of 1832, by Mr. Dunn o f Hull, who informs us that they were by no means uncommon, and that their familiar
and unsuspecting habits rendered them easy o f acquisition. Their nests, which have been found among the
lochs of Sanda, as described by Mr. Salmon, were placed in small tufts o f grass growing close to the edge
o f the water ; the eggs four, one inch two lines in length, and ten lines and a half in breadth, olive-brown
spotted and specked with brownish black. M. Temminck states that in Germany and Holland this bird is
o f rare occurrence.
As we might expect from the lengthened form o f the wings, the power o f flight which the Red-necked
Phalarope possesses is very considerable; nor is it less endowed with facilities for swimming, not only upon
the smooth surface o f lakes and ponds, where it is sometimes seen, but also upon the rougher billows o f the
ocean far from shore, where it finds itself quite secure. On land it does not display that lightness and activity
which characterize the Tringa in general; in its lobed feet, however, it possesses an advantage over that
tribe in being able to walk on the soft and oozy mud which covers the sides o f creeks and estuaries, among
which it finds its principal food, consisting o f insects, worms, and minute mollusca.
The changes of plumage which this bird undergoes are but little understood; we know, however, that the
young differ materially from the adult birds, having a lighter colouring o f plumage, wanting the red on the
sides o f the neck, and all their feathers being margined with greyish white. M. Temminck, as well as other
naturalists, has fallen into an error respecting the sexual differences which characterize the Phalaropes, the
Sandpipers and Plovers, the Ruff excepted,— viz. in considering the largest and richest-coloured birds to be
males, whereas the contrary is in reality the case. This law appears to prevail with most o f those birds that
produce but one brood of young during the summer, and the females are further remarkable for laying very
large eggs in proportion to the size o f the bird.
We take our description from adult specimens now before us. The whole o f the head, the back o f the
neck, the breast and flank, are o f a dark ash colour; throat, belly and vent, white; between the breast and
throat intervenes a broad patch o f beautiful chestnut-red ; the remainder o f the upper plumage o f a brownish
black, the feathers having a rufous margin ; secondaries tipped with white, which forms a band across the
wings 5 bill black; irides brown ; feet olive-brown. Length about six inches.
We have figured both sexes in their summer plumage; the female will be readily distinguished by her more
brilliant colour and larger size.