SANDPIPERS AND THE SANDERLING 47 



Curlew Sandpipers, Sanclerlings, Dunlins, and Stints 

 in the winter plumage called by the one name of 

 Stints. A friend of mine on the east coast, 

 in waiting to me said, " I have sent you some 

 Stints." His Stints consisted of the three first birds 

 we have mentioned. As this was only recently, 

 local names are apparently as much in use now as 

 they were forty years ago. 



The Dunlin nests in this country on the northern 

 moors, Scotland naturally being its chief nesting- 

 place ; and from the Dunlin's nesting close to the 

 Golden Plovers in the same haunts, it has been 

 called by the people the " Plover's Page." 



It will be as well to give in detail the full breed- 

 ing plumage of one of our commonest shore birds. 

 Even in southern counties we have procured it 

 when flighting ; also the Curlew Sandpiper, just as 

 the breeding plumage was changing. This was on 

 the muddy edges of a large pool at the foot of a 

 wooded hill, very close to a populous town. 



The bill is black, iris brown, upper part of head 

 brownish-black, the feathers margined with yellowish- 

 red. The feathers of the back are marked in the 

 same manner ; some of the scapular feathers are 

 barred on the edges. A small part of the throat is 

 white, the sides of head, neck, and nape are greyish- 

 white, marked with blackish-brown ; the quills and 

 greater coverts are greyish-black, the coverts tipped 

 with w^hite. The breast is black, or marbled with 

 black and white ; the rest of lower parts white. 

 The legs and feet are a dark olive. 



