384 BIRDS OF NOKFOLK. 



before me tlie length of bill varies from one inch and 

 a quarter to rather more than one inch and three- 

 eighths ; and in four males from one inch full to 

 nearly one inch and a quarter. The degree of curva- 

 ture, as well as the depth of the mandibles at the base, 

 also varies considerably. 



Varieties of this bird, although such an abundant 

 species, are but rarely met with. Mr. F. Frere, of 

 Yarmouth, possesses a very curious specimen killed by 

 himself on Breydon in the spring of the year, which, 

 from its size and the form of the bill, was at first sup- 

 posed to be a curlew sandpiper. Mr. Harting, however, 

 having examined the bird, agrees with me that it is 

 a white* dunlin, having only the scapulars and a few 

 other feathers rust colour. 



TRINGA MARITIMA, Briinnicli. 



PUEPLE SANDPIPER. 



This species occurs pretty regularly in autumn and 

 winter, although the number seen or procured on our 

 coast varies much in different seasons. It is also occa- 

 sionally met with in spring, but that this is exceptional 

 may be inferred from my own notes since 1850, con- 

 taining but one entry to that effect : a bird killed at 

 Yarmouth, on the 14th of May, 1853, commencing the 

 change to summer plumage. Two were also observed by 

 Mr. Dowell, at Morston, on the 30th of July, 1851. 



* In the " Field" of September 16tli, 1865, Mr. F. Hele, of Alde- 

 burgh, Suffolk, records a perfectly white dunlin, as recently killed at 

 Thorpe in that neighbourhood. Of this bird Mr. Harting remarks 

 in his " Birds of Middlesex " (p. 201, note), " The quill feathers 

 were much worn, and the bird had the appearance of great age." 



