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CHARADRIIDA 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptialHead, back of neck, 
back, and wings, brown, with dark centres to the feathers 
and rufous edgings ; primaries, dusky-brown ; tail, brownish, 
the central feathers being longer and darker than the lateral 
series ; upper tail-coverts, chiefly white, forming a conspi- 
cuous patch ; cheeks, neck, breast, and flanks, greyish-white, 
speckled with brown; chin, axillaries, abdomen, and under 
tail-coverts, white. 
Adult female nuptial.—More richly coloured than the 
male plumage which it closely resembles. 
Adult winter, male and female.—Back, brownish-grey ; 
breast and flanks, faintly streaked. 
Immature, male and female.—The feathers of the back 
are spotted with white and rufous; the throat and breast 
are distinctly shaded with buff; otherwise there is a general 
resemblance to the adult nuptial plumage. 
Beak. Black; short and straight. 
Fret. Dark olive. 
IripEs. Blackish-brown. 
Eaees. Ground-colour, rufous-drab, boldly blotched with 
dark brown, especially at the larger end: clutch, four 
(Saunders). 
AYERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH ... ee a oe) ey alta 
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BEAK : one io a, Ge 
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DUNLIN. Tringa alpina (Linneus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, pls. 
69, 70; Dresser, ‘Birds of Europe,’ vol. viii, pl. 548 ; 
Lilford, ‘ Coloured Figures,’ vol. v, pl. 34. 
Multitudes of Dunlins, journeying southward, appear -in 
late summer and in autumn, about our low-lying coastlands, 
returning again 1n spring, as they push northward to their 
