The second British species, the Red-necked Phalarope, is scarcely less known to the majority of people than the Gray Phalarope. It seldom visits the land except for breeding purposes, and as its nesting-places in our area are not only few, but in the remotest part of it, opportunities for observing its habits are few and fitful. It is a summer visitor to certain parts of the Outer Hebrides, to the Orkneys, and the Shetlands. Outside our limits its range is very extensive. It breeds in suitable localities throughout the Arctic regions of the New and Old Worlds, above the limits of forest growth; in winter it wanders far southwards, and is then found on the coasts of Europe, Southern Asia, Mexico, and Central America. Like the preceding species it is thoroughly marine in its choice of a haunt, but does not appear to wander for such great distances from land. It is just as tame and confiding, just as social in summer, and as gregarious in winter. It swims equally as well and buoyantly, with the same peculiar bobbing motion; whilst on the land it is able to run and walk with ease. It exhibits the same reluctance to take wing, preferring to retreat from danger by swimming, although it flies on occasion quickly and well. Its food is very similar, and its note is a shrill but rather low _weet_. As Professor Newton has remarked, both this and the preceding species of Phalarope are entrancingly interesting in their habits. “Their graceful form, their lively colouration, and the confidence with which both are familiarly displayed in their breeding-quarters can hardly be exaggerated, and it is equally a delightful sight to watch these birds gathering their food in the high-running surf, or, when that is done, peacefully floating outside the breakers.”[2] So far as concerns Scotland, the breeding season of the Red-necked Phalarope commences in May, but in more Arctic localities it is deferred until several weeks later. It returns with unerring regularity to the old accustomed spots to rear its young. These are on the marshy moors, beside the pools, at no great distance from the sea. The nest, usually made on the ground, (in the valley of the Petchora it has been found in a hassock of coarse grass a foot or more above it), is a mere hollow lined with a few scraps of dead grass and rush. The four eggs are buff of various shades, or pale olive, spotted and blotched with amber and blackish-brown, pale brown and gray. As previously remarked the male bird incubates them. When disturbed at its breeding grounds, the Red-necked Phalarope slips off the nest and takes refuge in the water, manifesting little concern for its safety. As soon as the young are sufficiently matured, they and their parents resort to the sea, moving southwards as autumn advances, and for the most part keeping to the water until another nesting season comes round. CURLEW.