324 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



and the eastern counties that is to say, taking the smallest from 

 the west, and the largest from the east, the Hebridean bird may 

 safely be said to be not much over half the weight of the other. 

 Some of the Dunlins on the western mainland have the bill con- 

 siderably depressed towards the base; indeed, in a few specimens 

 which I have handled, this feature was so marked as almost to 

 justify a novice in mistaking them for the broad-billed sandpiper. 

 I have also obtained very characteristic examples of this smaller 

 race, with very short and straight bills, in some of the inner islands. 

 In 1870, 1 had several specimens in full breeding dress fromGigha 

 and Tyree. This tendency in the Dunlin to excessive variation 

 has long been noticed, and has been referred to by various British 

 and continental ornithologists. Sir William Jardine appears to 

 have met with a breed frequenting some of the lochs in Suther- 

 landshire, which presented marked differences in size and colora- 

 tion from the ordinary type; and Macgillivray (B. B. iv., p. 214) 

 makes the remark, that " the birds that visit the eastern coasts of 

 Scotland seem in general much larger." To this I may add, that 

 during many years' careful examination of the species in the county 

 of East Lothian, it was remarked by Mr Sinclair and myself, that 

 the greater number of Dunlins shot by us were birds fully as 

 large as the curlew sandpiper, and had bills of equal length and 

 curvature. 



The late Mr Cassin, of Philadelphia, in Professor Baird's work, 

 has the following remarks, which I think have some bearing on this 

 subject : " Tringa alpina var Americana. We have not a sufficient 

 number of European specimens of the true T. alpina of that con- 

 tinent for satisfactory comparison, especially as ornithologists 

 mention differences in size at the same localities; but of eight 

 specimens from Europe and Asia, now before us, not one ought to 

 be considered as specifically the same as the American bird. The 

 size is invariably smaller, and the bill disproportionately shorter. 

 In fact, we have little doubt that the bird inhabiting both the 

 Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the republic, is quite distinct and 

 may be easily recognised." It would not be difficult, I think, to 

 match this American Dunlin precisely with hundreds of specimens 

 from the eastern coasts of Scotland, and I have long entertained 

 the opinion that these larger birds are not bred on our moors, but 

 are migrants from other countries. 



