Orkney,
Greenland, Norway, and Lapland, out of human creatures' way, I shall
myself call it the Arctic Fairy. It would come south if we would let
it, but of course 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." Another was shot while running between the metals of
the Great Eastern Railway, near the Stratford station, early in June,
1852; and on the Norfolk coast, four others have been killed during the
last fifteen years; and the birds' visits, thus, satisfactorily, put a
stop to. I can therefore study it only in Mr. Gould's drawing, on
consulting which, I find the bird to be simply a sea dabchick,--brown
stripes on the back, and all; but the webs of the feet a little finer,
and in its habits it is more like the Lily-ouzel, according to the
following report of Mr. St. John: "The red-necked phalarope is
certainly the most beautiful little wader of my acquaintance. There
were a pair of them, male and female, feeding near the loch, in a
little pool which was covered with weeds of different kinds. Nothing
could be more graceful than the movements of these two little birds, as
they swam about in search of insects, etc. Sometimes _they ran lightly
on the broad leaves of the water-lily which served them for a raft_,
and entirely kept them out of the water. Though not exactly web-footed,
the phalarope swims with the greatest ease. The attachment of these two
birds to each other seemed very great: whenever in their search for
food they wandered so far apart as to be hidden by the intervening
weeds, the male bird stopped feeding suddenly, and, looking round,
uttered a low and musical call of inquiry, which was immediately
answered by the female in a different note, but perfectly expressive of
her answer, which one might suppose to be to the purport that she was
at hand and quite safe; on hearing her, the male immediately
recommenced feeding, but at the same time making his way towards her;
she also flew to meet him; they then joined company for a moment or
two, and, after a few little notes of endearment, turned off again in
different directions. This scene was repeated a dozen times while I was
watching them. They seemed to have not the slightest fear of me, for
frequently they came to within a yard of