OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 251 



Japan, and both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America on migration ; 

 and winters in the basin of the Mediterranean, North Africa (to the Canaries in 

 the west and Zanzibar in the east), the basin of the Caspian, Arabia, the Mekran 

 coast, occasionally Northern India, South China, Formosa, Borneo, Java, the 

 Southern States of America and the West Indies. 



Allied forms. American ornithologists have separated sub-specifically 

 the Dunlins of that continent from those of the Old World under the name of 

 Tringa alpina paciftca, on the ground of their being larger and more rufous in 

 breeding plumage ; but as the differences are so trivial and so completely inter- 

 grade, it seems wisest, at any rate for the purposes of the present work, to treat 

 the two races as one.* The Dunlin has probably no other ally closer than the 

 Purple Sandpiper, a British species dealt with elsewhere. 



Habits. Of all our small Waders the Dunlin is the most widely distributed, 

 the most numerous, and the best known. It is more or less gregarious at all times, 

 some of the nocks in autumn and winter being composed of thousands of birds, 

 whilst even in the breeding season parties of varying size regularly congregate 

 at the feeding places. It is also a social species, and not only joins flocks of 

 other small Sandpipers, but allows many other odd birds to live in flocks of its 

 own kind. Its haunts vary a good deal with the season ; in autumn and winter 

 the bird principally frequents mud-flats, estuaries, and salt marshes, not showing 

 much propensity for sands unless mud-banks are near them ; whilst in summer 

 the old birds retire more or less inland to swampy moors and marshes for the 

 purpose of rearing their young. A great many Dunlins simply pass along our 

 coasts in autumn and spring (in September and May) from and to their Arctic 

 haunts, but vast numbers also stay upon them throughout the winter. The Dunlin 

 chiefly migrates down coast lines, but a few parties cross by internal routes 

 down great river valleys. This is especially the case with individuals breeding on 

 the Siberian tundras ; although in America, coast lines are chiefly followed, as 

 in the Western Palaearctic region. On our coast the Dunlin is not particularly 

 a shy bird, except when congregated in large flocks, which are usually approached 

 with difficulty. Odd birds may often be watched feeding amongst the dykes on 

 salt marshes at a distance of a few feet. The Dunlin is an active little creature, 

 almost incessantly in motion, running about the muddy shore at the margin of 

 the water, and often wading through the shallow tide-pools, or amongst the 

 broken receding waves. Its flight is rapid, but does not differ in any important 

 respect from that of other small Waders. Flocks of Dunlins often indulge in 

 various graceful aerial evolutions, spreading out like a net, closing up again, 



* Some naturalists assert that two races of Dunlins frequent the British Islands, one small and 

 bright-coloured, the other large and not so vivid ; but nothing satisfactory seems yet to have been 

 determined. 



