460 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



THE DUNLIN 

 [W. FARREN] 



Of the four species of the genus Pelidna that are on the British 

 list, but one, the dunlin, nests with us. It is by far the commonest of 

 our shore-birds, and is best treated separately from its congeners, of 

 whose habits we have, relatively speaking, little information. 



Although the dunlin cannot be regarded as a rare species with us 

 in the nesting season, yet its nesting-places are sufficiently remote to 

 prevent its being a very familiar species at this time. It favours most 

 marshes at a high elevation in mountainous districts, and moorlands 

 similar to those frequented by the golden-plover. It also nests, how- 

 ever, a little above high-water mark on unfrequented low-lying shores 

 where a plentiful supply of coarse grass provides suitable cover for 

 its nest 1 and the higher grass-covered ground in salt marshes. 2 



Nesting operations generally commence in May, but in the Outer 

 Hebrides Dr. P. H. Bahr found them much later. He states that 

 advance parties of dunlin, evidently forming part of the breeding 

 population of the islands, arrived at the end of May, followed by the 

 remainder early in June. The first nest of eggs found on June 5th 

 with three others was destroyed by common-gulls, which are 

 inveterate egg-stealers. 3 No very extended observations have been 

 made of its courting-habits. It has been recorded that the male 

 " sidles up to the female, and raises one wing, whereupon she coyly 

 flies off, and he after her to repeat the performance." 4 



Much jealousy is displayed by the males towards each other, and 

 they resent intrusion on their particular domain. The dunlin makes 

 numerous additional nest scrapes before egg-laying commences. Dr. 

 P. H. Bahr states that before he discovered any eggs, "scrapes 



1 Country Life, Sept. 24, 1910, p. 420. 2 Zoologist, 1906, p. 21. 



3 Annals of Scottish Natural History, 1908, p. 24. 4 Ibid. 



