DUNLIN. GRALLATORES. TRINGA. 155 



rectness of that opinion by which these supposed ^different 

 species have been pronounced identical, under peculiar mo- 

 difications of plumage. The Dunlin, or (as it is called in 

 its winter dress) the Purre, is a very well known and nume- 

 rous species, frequenting in immense flocks the sandy bays 

 and oozy shores of the whole line of our coast. In the 



southern parts of Britain it is a winter visitant, and conse- Periodical 



T . , . visitant. 



quently oftenest observed in its plain, or ash-grey plumage ; 



and it is only in spring, immediately previous to its depar- 

 ture for more northern latitudes, or early in autumn, on its 

 first return, that a few are seen clothed in the garb proper 

 to the Dunlin of earlier authors. In Scotland and its islands, 

 this bird may be considered indigenous, as great numbers 

 are known to breed not only upon the sea coast, but in the 

 marshes of the interior. A few also remain in Northumber- 

 land, which may be called the southern limit of the perma- 

 nent residence of the species. It is not to be supposed, 

 however, that the multitudes that people our northern shores 

 are the offspring of such only as breed in this latitude; they 

 are principally composed of migrants from countries farther 

 northward, to which the great body retires during summer, 

 as offering peculiar facilities for the reproduction of the 

 species, but which, upon the approach of frost, and when 

 food begins to fail, send forth their now increased flocks 

 southward, in search of warmer winter quarters, where a 

 more plentiful supply of nourishment may await them. Like 

 many of its congeners, the flight of this species is attended 

 with such regular evolutions, as no one who has enjoyed the 

 opportunity of visiting the parts of our coast frequented by 

 Purres, and other scolopaceous birds, can have failed to re- 

 mark. I allude to the glancing and simultaneous exposure 

 of the upper or under surface of the body by every indivi- 

 dual of a flock (be it ever so numerous), as it sweeps along 

 the surface of the ocean, or across the shining sands. In 

 Scotland, the Purre breeds upon the shingle at the mouths 

 of rivers, or on the salt marshes near the coast, as well as in 



