78 A BOOK OF BIRDS 



the northern parts of the mainland and the outlying islands of the 

 north-west of Scotland, laying four eggs of a warm stone-colour 

 blotched with purplish grey and spots of rich brown. The nest, such 

 as it is, is often placed at a distance from water, and even on dry 

 ground amid scattered pine-trees. On extremely rare occasions it 

 has been met with in North America. 



In the Dunlin (Plate XV. fig. 7) the contrast between the summer 

 and winter plumages is very striking. In the winter dress the upper 

 parts are ash-coloured, the under parts white. But towards the end 

 of March and the early days of April the new livery begins to make 

 its appearance. When complete, the upper parts are of a rich golden 

 brown, streaked, and blotched with black, except the wings, which 

 remain grey, while the breast becomes jet-black. The females are 

 somewhat larger, and have longer beaks than the males ; but in the 

 length of the beak there is great variation in both sexes. The average 

 length of the female is about 7^ inches. 



The Dunlin, like the Snipe and Woodcock, and many other long 

 and slender-beaked waders, has the power of curving the tip of the 

 upper jaw upwards for a considerable distance, whereby worms may 

 be seized when the beak is thrust down, probe-fashion, into the mud, 

 which forms the feeding-ground of this species. 



The Dunlin is a very common British bird, nesting in the wild 

 moorlands, chiefly of the north. It is also met with as a breeding 

 species in North America, extending as far south as California on the 

 Pacific, and the West Indies on the Atlantic coasts. 



The Little Stint (Plate XV. fig. 3) in its winter dress looks like 

 a miniature Dunlin ; but in summer it assumes the coloration of 

 its larger relative only in so far as the upper parts are concerned, the 

 under parts remaining white. This bird does not breed either in Great 

 Britain or in Ireland, and is met with in these islands only during the 

 early spring and autumn. It appears to select the north of the 

 European Continent for its breeding-ground. In America its place 

 is taken by the American Stint, or *' Least Sandpiper," which is 

 distinguished from the Little Stint chiefly in that it is smaller and 

 darker in colour at all seasons. On two or three occasions this tiny 

 wanderer has been met with in Great Britain. 



Much more striking in this matter of plumage is the Curlew 



