DUNLIN. 83 



ance to the observer, as the upper or under side of its body 

 happens to be turned towards him. 



During winter many dozens are shot for the table, on 

 various parts of the coast, and are considered to be very 

 good eating. In the autumn of 1 836, a few were sent to 

 the London market from Lincolnshire, where they had 

 been fatted in confinement with some Ruffs. These small 

 birds, from abundance of nutritious food, had increased 

 beyond their usual size, were very fat, delicately white in 

 colour, and by the party for whom they were purchased, 

 and by whom the birds were eaten, were said to be of 

 excellent flavour. 



Mr. Thompson says it is abundant in Ireland, and a few 

 breed there. Mr. Macgillivray, in a communication to Mr. 

 Audubon, says, " about the middle of April these birds be- 

 take themselves to the moors, in the northern part of Scot- 

 land, and in the larger Hebrides, where they may be found 

 scattered in the haunts selected by the Golden Plovers, 

 with which they are so frequently seen in company that 

 they have obtained the name of Plover's pages. In the 

 Hebrides, from this season until the end of August, none 

 are to be found along the shores. The nest is a slight 

 hollow in a dry place, having a few bits of withered heath 

 and grass irregularly placed in it. The eggs are four in 

 number. If, during incubation, a person approaches their 

 retreats, the male especially, but frequently the female also, 

 flies up to meet the intruder, settles on a tuft near him, or 

 rims along and uses the same artifices for decoying him 

 from the nest or young as the Plover or King Dotterel. 

 Towards the end of August, the different colonies betake 

 themselves to the sandy shores. On a large sand-ford in 

 Harris, I have at this season seen many thousands at once, 

 running about with extreme activity in search of food. 



