380 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



the dunlin made its appearance among other waders., 

 and a pair were shot by Mr. Newcome, at Hockwold, on 

 the 6th of May in that year. In like manner on the 

 coast, either singly or in small flocks, the dunlin is met 

 with throughout May and June. On the 2nd of June, 



1862, I shot a solitary male, at Salthouse, in full 

 summer plumage, which frequented the brackish waters 

 at the back of the beach, near the nesting place of the 

 ringed-plovers and lesser terns ; and at Hunstanton, in 



1863, I observed small parties of dunlins on the sands 

 between the 16th and 30th of May, and "one flock of 

 eight or nine on the 12th of June. 



Most shore-gunners, as well as collectors, are aware 

 of the difference observable in certain examples of 

 this species, not only in size but in peculiarities of 

 plumage, apart altogether from seasonal changes. And 

 hence continental authors more especially have, of late 

 years, distinguished a larger and a smaller race of the 

 European dunlin, as has been already remarked of the 

 ringed-plover.* In his "Ornithologie Europenne" (1849, 

 vol. ii., p. 230) Degland mentions under the name of 

 Tringa torquata, a stint which he considers distinct from 

 the common species. He describes it as a little smaller 

 with rather shorter bill and tarsi ; the head in winter 

 broadly streaked with blackish brown ; its breeding dress 

 brighter than that of the common stint, and the black 

 patch on the abdomen smaller. He also adds that it 

 breeds in Holland, whereas the larger species goes 

 further north to breed. On this latter point, however, 

 Temminck, in the third or supplementary volume of his 

 Manuel (p. 400), quotes from Naumann to the effect 

 that the lesser bird is the most northerly in its summer 

 habitat, an opinion entirely opposed to that of Degland, f 



* See ante, p- 95, note ; extract from " Ibis," 1865, p. 465. 



f In the second edition of Degland' s work (1867), the editor, M. 



