FEOVERS: AND’ SANDPIPERS: ’ Li3 
to the fact of the two species appearing in our 
country about the same time. 
The Dunlin is absolutely the commonest Limi- 
coline bird of the shore, and certainly the most 
widely dispersed. It possesses the habit, in common 
with so many other species of this order, of 
retiring to moors to breed; but as soon as nesting 
duties are done it returns to the coast, and for the 
remainder of the year continues to reside upon it. 
The Dunlins that breed in our islands represent 
but a very small portion of the vast number that 
winter on the British coasts. The majority of 
these are from more northern haunts, winter 
migrants, that haste away again with the return 
of spring. During its residence on the coast the 
Dunlin is remarkably gregarious, assembling often in 
flocks of thousands, which, by preference seek such 
portions of the shore as are low-lying and muddy. 
Salt-marshes, slob-lands, estuaries and creeks, and 
vast expanses of mud—as the Wash for instance, are 
the favourite haunts of the Dunlin. These large 
flocks of Dunlins are much more difficult to 
approach than smaller gatherings or individual 
birds. Dunlins are active little birds, almost 
incessantly in motion, running daintily about the 
muds, by the margin of the waves, or wading 
through the shallow tide pools. During the course 
of feeding a large flock will become widely 
scattered, and it is remarkable how quickly the 
broken ranks reform. There are few sights so 
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