TRINGA ALPINA 317 



TRINGA ALPINA, LinniEus. 

 DUNLIN. 



Tringa alpina, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 249 (1766) ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, 



p. 106. 

 Tringa variabilis, Malherbe, Cat.Bais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 21 (1846). 

 Pelidna cinclus, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 310 (1867). 

 Pelldna schinzi, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 312 (1867). 

 Pelidna alpina, Koenig, J.f. 0. 1888, p. 277 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 90 ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. xxiv, p. 602 ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1900, 



p. 65. 

 Pelidna schinzii, Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1900, p. 64. 



Description. — Adult male, summer, from Djerba, South Tunisia. 

 Crown, nape and hind-neck grey, streaked with black and buff; a wliitish 

 line extends from the base of the bill over and behind the eye ; back and 

 scapulars black, most of the feathers of these parts broadly fringed with 

 rufous ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark grey, streaked with blackish ; 

 median rectrices dark grey, the remainder of the tail feathers lighter grey ; 

 quills blackish, with lighter inner webs and white shafts ; chin and throat 

 white, slightly streaked with dark brown ; feathers of the upper breast 

 white, striped with blackish-brown ; abdomen with a large blackish patch ; 

 flanks, crissum and under tail-coverts white. 



Iris brown ; bill and feet blackish. 



Total length 7 inches, wing 4-50, culmen 1-40, tarsus 1. 



Adult female resembles the male, but is generally rather larger. 



In winter the plumage is much greyer, the under parts white, and the 

 blackish patch entirely wanting. 



Observations. — This species varies considerably in size, length of bill and 

 coloration. The name of T. schinzi was given by Brehm to the smaller 

 and more brightly coloured form, which is often met with, and which by 

 some ornithologists is considered to constitute a distinct race. 



The Dunlin is to be found in Tunisia chiefly during the winter 

 and the periods of migration. It arrives early in the autumn and 

 leaves late in the spring, and as some of these birds are apparently 

 to be met with even in the summer months, the species is perhaps 

 never entirely absent from the Kegency. The few individuals of 

 this, and allied species, which remain in the country throughout the 

 summer, are probably young birds of the preceding year, which 

 would not breed their first season. Whether it be the rule, or the 

 exception, among the Charadriidcc and some other allied families, 



