DUNLIN, OR OX-BIRD. 107 



posed for sale in the market of Mexico. At the same time, 

 many, as the Purres in their winter dress, remain through 

 the greatest part of the winter within the milder limits of 

 the Union ; frequenting, at times, in great numbers, the 

 coasts of both Carolinas during the month of February ; 

 flitting, probably, to and fro with every vaccillating change 

 of temperature, being naturally vagabond, and no where fix- 

 ed for any considerable time, until their arrival at the ultimate 

 Thule of the continent, where they barely stay long enough 

 to rear a single brood, destined, as soon as they are able, 

 to wander with the rest, and swell the aerial host, whose 

 sole delight, like the untiring Petrels of the storm, or the 

 ambitious Albatross, is to be in perpetual action ; and are 

 thus, by their associated numbers, obliged perpetually to rove 

 inquest of their transient, periodical, and varying prey. 



In the middle states, the Dunlins arrive on their way to 

 the north, in April and May ; and in September and Oc- 

 tober, they are again seen pursuing the route to their hyber- 

 nal retreat in the south. At these times they often mingle 

 with the flocks of other strand birds, from which they are 

 distinguishable by the rufous color of their upper plu- 

 mage. They frequent the muddy flats and shores of the salt 

 marshes, at the recess of the tide, feeding on the worms, in- 

 sects and minute shell-fish, which such places generally af- 

 ford. They are also very nimble on the strand, frequenting 

 the sandy beaches which bound the ocean, running and 

 gleaning up their prey with great activity, on the reflux of 

 the waves. 



These birds, when in their hybernal dress, are seen, in 

 conjunction with several species, sometimes collecting to- 

 gether in such flocks, as to seem at a distance, like a mov- 

 ing cloud, varying in form and appearance every instant, 

 while it performs its circuitous, waving, and whirling evo- 

 lutions along the shores with great rapidity ; alternately 



