DUNLIN 301 



age is chiefly grey on the upper parts ; the under parts white 

 with a greyish band on the lower breast. 



The dunlin is by far the most abundant sandpiper on our coasts 

 during the autumnal and venial migrations ; a considerable number 



FIG. 102. DUNLIN (summer plumage). \ natural size. 



of birds remain throughout the winter, and non-breeders or imma- 

 ture birds are to be met with in summer on the sandbanks and mud- 

 flats. The dunlin also breeds in this country, on moors and fells, 

 in the wilder portions of England, Wales, and Scotland, and, in 

 smaller numbers, in Ireland. In autumn they often congregate in 

 such large numbers that a cloud of dunlins is on many parts of 

 the coast as familiar a sight as is a cloud of starlings in more 

 inland districts. The well-known and esteemed writer known as 

 4 A Son of the Marshes ' thus vividly describes the variable appear- 

 ance of a vast flock of these birds on the wing : ' In the distance 

 something is coming up ... that looks like the smoke from the 

 funnel of a steamer ; it waves and streams as smoke will do in a 

 rush of wind. Now the smoke has vanished. Again it shows 

 thick, as at first, and then it breaks up in patches. Presently the 

 dark cloud becomes a light one a great flash of silver. It consists 

 of dunlins coming up the wind at full speed. We can hear the rush 

 of the thousands of wings, and their soft chatter, some time before 



