DUNLIN. 875 



" the birds became restless, shifting their ground and 

 flying short distances to the larger islands of mud still 

 left uncovered by the water, and whenever they rose to 

 fly from one patch of mud to another they always called 

 to each other, and became silent again on re- com- 

 mencing to feed." As the " muds" disappeared beneath 

 the rising waters, the golden plovers were usually the 

 first to leave and wing their way to the marshes, followed 

 very shortly by the ringed plovers and dunlins, whilst 

 the last to quit their feeding grounds with the excep- 

 tion of the various species of gulls were the long- 

 legged curlews, which had thus a few minutes advantage 

 over their smaller companions. By means of a punt 

 in the main channel on a flowing tide he was enabled, 

 just before high water, to approach very close to these 

 birds, and could thus observe their actions without appa- 

 rently creating alarm ; for at such times, as he remarks, 

 "not only is their feeding ground gradually brought 

 within narrower limits every minute, but the birds 

 themselves are brought closer together, and are so busy 

 feeding that they do not notice so much the approach 

 of a punt." Then is the moment for a fatal shot, but 

 how much more satisfactory, with no hostile intentions, 

 to adopt Mr. Harting's plan, and sculling quietly up to 

 them, within a few yards, watch the movements of these 

 little sandpipers "perfectly unconstrained in their element 

 of ooze and sea-wrack, running on the mud in the 

 most graceful and varied attitudes." At high water he 

 invariably found dunlins in small parties scattered about 

 the " ronds " and marshes of the adjoining rivers. In 

 these localities, when fired at in small flocks, the birds 

 usually scattered themselves in all directions, and 

 dropped again on the same marsh in different places, 

 and with a little caution they could be flushed singly 

 like the jack-snipes, which were commonly met with 

 at the same time. Both at this time also, and again 



