124 PLOVER GROUP 



ought to be changed. Although markedly different in summer, and 

 of smaller size, with a somewhat shorter beak, the dunlin in winter- 

 dress is exceedingly like the curlew-sandpiper, from which, however, 

 it may be at once distinguished by the dark brown rump (upper tail- 

 coverts), and the elongation of the middle tail-feathers, which are 

 much longer than the others. In one ornithological work ^ the beak 

 is described as straight, and in another - as slightly bent downwards ! 

 Both in size and colouring the dunlin displays considerable variation, 

 the females being as a rule rather larger than their partners : from 

 /h to 8 inches may be given as the average length, and 2 oz. as 



the weight of females and a 

 ([uarter of an ounce less that 

 of males. Despite its slight 

 and unimportant structural 

 difference from both the 

 curlew and sandpiper, the 

 dunlin is regarded b\' some 

 writers as the representative 

 of a distinct genus, under the 

 name of Pclidna alpiiia. 



In summer the feathers 

 of the crown of the head and 

 back are black bordered with 

 chestnut, while those on the 

 nape of the neck, and the 

 lower part of the back, as 

 well as the wing-coverts, and 

 uLM.iN (SLMMKK). uppcr tail-covcrts, are grey- 



ish brown, darker down the 

 middle line ; the throat and sides of the neck are greyish white closely 

 streaked ; the rest of the under-parts are white, except for a black 

 area on the breast ; and there are white tips to the greater wing- 

 coverts and bases of the secondary quills, forming a bar across the open 

 wing. In winter, ashy brown replaces the chestnut of the upper-parts, 

 and the lower surface is wholly white. The hen differs from her 

 partner mereh' by her superior size, and larger beak and legs, which 

 are black. Young birds- in the first plumage differ from the adult 

 summer-dress by the lack of the black breast-patch, by the buff 

 and white margins of the feathers of the upper-parts, and the buff 



' Sli.-irpc, Ilatuibpok of British Birds, vol. iii. p. 2 28. 



-' Hlanford, /aiiiia pf British India — Birds, vol. iv. ]>. 273. 



