4 SCOLOPACID.E. 



in the soil, with little if any lining ; but a lining of fine stems is carefully added 

 as laying proceeds. 



" Upon the coastline, the eggs are chiefly laid early in May ; but on the east 

 fells incubation is rather later, and we have found fresh eggs as late as the middle 

 of June. 



" Dunlins exhibit considerable anxiety about their nest, if incubation be 

 advanced ; and it is interesting to watch the little birds flying round an intruder, 

 uttering a gentle triU, or alighting on the ground to run nimbly for a few paces. 

 Some birds sit very close indeed, and may be captured on the nest. The last 

 Dunlin's nest which we found during the summer of 1885 was on Wedholme 

 flow, June Gth. We were searching for the eggs of a pair of Great Black-backed 

 Gulls, Avhich were sailing magnificently overhead, uttering measured imprecations, 

 when the sharp cry of the startled Dunlin arose, and we saw the bird going away. 

 There, sure enough, on a little dry knoll of heather, surrounded on all sides by 

 boggy ground, was a Dunlin's nest, lined with a few straws, and containing four 

 rich-coloured eggs, all much incubated. 



" It often happens that some days elapse between the laying of the first egg 

 of a clutch and the second ; indeed Mr. A. Smith informs us, that he has known 

 thirteen days elapse between the laying of the first two eggs. 



"But while the majority of Dunlin lay on our marshes at the beginning of 

 May, laying again and again if their first clutches be robbed or destroyed by a 

 high tide, large flocks may be observed on the coast at the same time. Thus on 

 May 8th we observed a flock composed of about a hundred Dunlin and nearly as 

 as many Kinged Plovers, on the coast at Bowness. As soon after daylight as the 

 tide had retired sufficiently to allow of their feeding, they scattered over the mud 

 exposed, and the twitter of the Dunlins, repeated at intervals by the whole flock, 

 created a sort of running murmur, very grateful to an ornithologist." 



Mr. Abel Chapman writes as follows respecting the nesting of the Dunlin 

 on the Border moors between England and Scotland * : — " May 8th .... The 

 Dunlins must have eggs now — a week ago their actions showed they had already 

 laid — but on the immense extent of ground, it is all but impossible to discover 

 their nests. Their most favoured haunts are some wide tussocky flow, fiir out 

 on the hills, and perhaps a mile in circuit. This great flat area is occupied by 

 perhaps but a single pair of Dunlins ; hence the difficulty of detecting the exact 

 site of the nest is obvious. To attempt to watch the birds on to it is vexation of 

 spirit. They are so ridiculously tame, running unconcernedly around, almost 



* ' Bird-life of the Borders,' p. 38. 



