DUNLIN. 383 



time giving utterance to a plaintive cry, a cry whicli I 

 have often thought (but I may be mistaken) differs from 

 that used by the shore dunlins. Two birds shot on 

 the 16th of May, showed scarcely any sign of the sum- 

 mer dress. All our shore dunlins, and I have inspected 

 scores through my glass, were then in full summer 

 plumage. Unlike the shore dunlins, which are per- 

 petually on the move, and ever on the alert, these may 

 be seen standing for long periods on one leg close to 

 the water's edge, the other leg dangling loose from 

 the body, and the head thrown back between the 

 shoulders. I believe a pair or two may be found in this 

 district throughout the summer." Of a specimen 

 picked up dead on the 4th of June, he writes, "this 

 bird is in fall summer plumage or nearly so, but the 

 black pectoral patch is much broken up with white. It 

 was too far gone for preservation." Mr. Cordeaux has 

 also examined, under the microscope the respective 

 parasites of the " drain " and " shore " dunlins, which 

 certainly, as shown by a coloured drawing sent to me, 

 are widely different. 



As with the godwits, sanderlings, and other waders, 

 examples of this species differ much in the date of their 

 assumption or loss of the breeding plumage, birds killed 

 on the same day, either in spring or autumn, often 

 exhibiting every stage of transition from winter to 

 summer plumage or vice versa. As a rule the sex of 

 the common dunlins, may be determined by the bill, that 

 of the female being almost invariably the longest, my 

 own experience in this respect, from the dissection of a 

 good number of specimens agreeing entirely with Mr. 

 Jefferies' statement in the "Zoologist" for 1867 (p. 813) ; 

 but, as I have already shown to be the case with the bar- 

 tailed godwits, exceptions may be met with which would 

 altogether mislead the collector who relied on external 

 evidences only. In four females of the larger race now 



