THE DUNLIN 209 



sun ; and ever and anon the flock seems to vanish and appear 

 again as the dark or light part of their plumage is turned 

 towards you. Sometimes they spread out like a net, perhaps 

 ten thousand strong, then close up again into a dense black- 

 looking mass, rising for some distance and swooping to the 

 ground with great velocity, or perhaps skimming just above 

 the mud for a hundred yards or more before alighting with 

 the same startling precision and regularity of movement. 



What will strike the observer as rather extraordinary is 

 the quietness which attends all these movements. Except at 

 the breeding grounds the Dunlin is a remarkably silent bird, 

 and rarely utters a sound. When feeding, the entire flock of 

 birds scatter themselves far and wide over the mud, each 

 seeming to pursue an independent course ; but when alarmed 

 they quickly close together as they rise. Its food when living 

 on the mudflats and marshy coasts is sand- worms, small mol- 

 lusks, shrimps, and other minute inhabitants of the shallow 

 water and slimy mud ; but in summer it is almost exclusively 

 composed of insects and their larvae, especially water-beetles 

 and the larvae of the drake fly. The Dunlin also eats quan- 

 tities of moorland fruits, and I have taken various vegetable 

 fragments from its stomach. - A favourite feeding ground of 

 the Dunlin in winter is on the slimy banks of tidal rivers, 

 and in the marshy backwaters of the low-lying coasts. I have 

 seen single birds of this species running about on the dense 

 weeds in these stagnant pools, and often meet with it here 

 and there in the deep drains which spread out like a net over 

 the wide expanse of mudflat. When thus met with singly 

 these Dunlins are remarkably tame ; and on one occasion I 

 remember actually taking one up in my hand without it 

 making any effort to escape. 



The Dunlins quit the coast by the end of April. In early 

 May, when the first blushes of spring are creeping over the 

 mountain wastes, they are back again at their breeding-places, 



14 



