DUNLIN 291 



The Dunlin is subject to considerable variation in size, 

 length of bill, and shade of plumage. The Arctic-breeding 

 species are duller in colour and larger than those that nest 

 in more temperate climes. The North American form is 

 large and possesses a long beak, while in the nuptial plumage 

 the back and scapulars are tipped with light rufous edgings. 

 The smaller race, described by Brehm, in 1822, as T. schinzi, 

 has usually a short and straight beak. This form breeds on 

 the Outer Hebrides, in Tiree, and other parts of West and 

 North Scotland, and in many parts of England and Ireland. 

 I possess a specimen with a beak barely one inch in length 

 and almost perfectly straight (Plate XXIV., fig. 1), I ob- 

 tained it from one of the midland counties of Ireland in 

 the breeding-season. According to Cordeaux the short- 

 billed Dunlin is often tame, and resorts " to the borders of 

 the marsh-drains, or to the ' fittie-land ' adjoining the 

 'muds/ in preference to the flats" (Backhouse, ' Zoologist,' 

 1901, p. 91). I have noted several Dunlins distinctly partial 

 to salt-water drains about Dublin Bay, and have seen them, 

 when disturbed, run along the edge, now and then peeping 

 up to see if they were being approached too closely. Such 

 birds are usually tame and slow to rise, often eluding obser- 

 vation by retracing their steps, or by following the course 

 of a tortuous channel. If they rise the flight is short, gener- 

 ally to the nearest drain. I have examined many of these 

 ' drain Dunlin ' in the flesh and have found both long- and 

 short-billed forms among them. 1 



Food. -The Dunlin feeds by day and night. I have 

 heard hundreds of very tame birds uttering their gentle 

 purring note at dusk in the winter, while pattering over 

 the soft ooze, all the while probing in search of food, close 

 to where I was standing. They frequently feed in company 

 with Stints, Turnstones, and other ' waders.' 



Small shrimps, sand-hoppers, various insects, marine 

 worms, and minute shell-fish, form the diet. I have gener- 

 ally found fine sand present in the gizzard. 



Voice. A clear note, often produced when soaring, may 

 be heard during the pairing-season. It sounds something 

 like dwee-dwee ; but at all seasons when in company, the 

 birds purr or chatter to one another, making their presence 

 known by their trilling chorus. The several voices uttered 

 successively and in unison produce a subdued chanting, 



1 Vide also Zoologist,' 1901, pp. 91, 156, 185, 187. 



