288 CHABADBIID^ 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Head, back of neck, 

 back, and wings, brown, with dark centres to the feathers 

 and rufous edgings ; primaries, dusky-brown ; tail, brownish, 

 the central feathers being longer and darker than the lateral 

 series; upper tail-coverts, chiefly white, forming a conspi- 

 cuous patch ; cheeks, neck, breast, and flanks, greyish-white, 

 speckled with brown ; chin, axillaries, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts, white. 



Adult female nuptial. More richly coloured than the 

 male plumage which it closely resembles. 



Adult winter, male and female. Back, brownish-grey; 

 breast and flanks, faintly streaked. 



Immature, male and female. The feathers of the back 

 are spotted with white and rufous ; the throat and breast 

 are distinctly shaded with buff ; otherwise there is a general 

 resemblance to the adult nuptial plumage. 



BEAK. Black ; short and straight. 



FEET. Dark olive. 



IRIDES. Blackish-brown. 



EGGS. Ground-colour, rufous-drab, boldly blotched with 

 dark brown, especially at the larger end : clutch, four 

 (Saunders). 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH 7 '25 in. 



WING 4-75 



BEAK 0'9 



TARSO-METATARSUS 0*9 



EGG 1-35 x '95 in. 



DUNLIN. Tringa alpina (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pis. 

 69, 70; Dresser, 'Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 548; 

 Lilford, * Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 34. 



Multitudes of Dunlins, journeying southward, appear in 

 late summer and in autumn, about our low-lying coastlands, 

 returning again in spring, as they push northward to their 



