CHARADRIID.Ii. 



583 



THE DUNLIN. 



Trixga alpina, Linnaeus. 



The Dunlin is the most numerous of the Sandpipers which fre- 

 quent our shores and tidal rivers, and there it may be found through- 

 out the year, for although many of the adults retire inland for 

 nesting purposes, yet a number of immature birds remain during 

 the summer. Its favourite breeding-quarters are wild and often 

 elevated moorlands, which are comparatively rare in the south of 

 England ; but nests have been found in Cornwall and Devon, and 

 I have seen the young hardly able to fly on Exmoor in Somerset. 

 In Wales it undoubtedly nests in Cardiganshire and Merionethshire, 

 and it formerly did so in the marshes of the Dee in Cheshire ; while 

 it still breeds in Lancashire, and in some numbers on the mosses 

 on both sides of the Sohvay. On the east side its eggs have been 

 obtained in Lincolnshire, and pairs are scattered over the moors 

 from Yorkshire northwards to the Cheviots. In Scotland, where 

 suitable situations abound, the bird is pretty generally distributed 

 on the mainland, though local in Sutherland ; and it is rather 

 plentiful on many of the islands as far as the Shetlands. In 

 Ireland, it nests locally, from Wicklow up to Donegal and London- 

 derry ; while in autumn and winter it frequents the coasts in 

 thousands. 



The Dunlin varies considerably in size, length of bill, and colour 

 of plumage ; and even in the Palaearctic region there appear to be 



