210 OUR RARER BIRDS 



although it is seldom much use to look for their eggs before 

 the end of that month. The Dunlin enlivens the moors with 

 its cheerful little note, which somewhat resembles the call of 

 the Yellow Bunting or the Greenfinch ; and ever and anon 

 the males flutter up into the air and descend on motionless 

 wing and expanded tail, uttering a pleasant trilling sound. 

 This pretty little bird is now much more gay in plumage, 

 having assumed nearly black lower parts, and bright chestnut 

 and black on the head and back. It is also worthy of remark 

 that the female is slightly larger than the male. The nest is 

 always well and artfully concealed on the moor, perhaps by 

 the side of the clear pool amongst the rushes, or under a tuft 

 of heath or bilberry, or behind a dense mass of cotton grass. 

 The nest is a hollow, lined with a few dry bits of the 

 surrounding vegetation; and the eggs are always four in 

 number. They are greenish or brownish buff in ground 

 colour, boldly spotted and blotched with dark reddish-brown 

 and pale grayish-brown. The usual type of egg is most 

 thickly marked at the larger end, but sometimes we see them 

 with the spots evenly distributed over the entire surface. 

 The sitting-bird leaves the nest at the least alarm, leaving the 

 eggs to the safety of their own protective tints. Even during 

 the breeding season I often meet with the Dunlin on the coast 

 perhaps some considerable distance from its breeding grounds. 

 Parties of males and females often meet together on the 

 shore at this season, and retire each to their own particular 

 haunt as soon as their wants are satisfied. Dunlins only rear 

 one brood in the season. 



Another rare little bird is still to be met with in a few 

 chosen localities in the most secluded parts of the upland 

 wilds. This is the Eed-necked Phalarope, a species which is 

 readily distinguished from all the other little Sandpipers by 

 its singularly -shaped feet, which are provided with lobes 

 almost like those on the feet of a Coot. The surprising tame- 



