SCOLOPACIDA". 



569 





THE DUNLIN. 



Tringa ALPiNA, Linnseus. 



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

 quent our shores and tidal rivers, where it may be found throughout 

 the year ; for although many of the adults retire inland for nesting- 

 purposes, their place is taken in summer by immature birds. 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. Satisfactory 

 evidence is wanting as regards Wales, but the species breeds sparsely 

 in the marshes of the Dee in Cheshire, more freely in Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire, and in some numbers on the mosses on both sides 

 of the Solvvay ; while on the east side its eggs have been obtamed 

 in Lincolnshire, and a few pairs are scattered over the moors 

 further north, up to the Cheviots. In Scotland, where suitable 

 situations are abundant, the bird is generally distributed on the 

 mainland — though local in Sutherland, and is rather plentiful on 

 many of the islands as far as the Shetlands. As regards Ireland, 

 it is only known to nest — in small numbers — in the north-west, but 

 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 Palsearctic region there appear to be 

 two races : a large and northern one of duller tints, and a smaller 



