PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 113 



to the fact of the two species appearing in our 

 country about the same time. 



The Dunlin is absolutely the commonest Limi- 

 coline bird of the shore, and certainly the most 

 widely dispersed. It possesses the habit, in common 

 with so many other species of this order, of 

 retiring to moors to breed ; but as soon as nesting 

 duties are done it returns to the coast, and for the 

 remainder of the year continues to reside upon it. 

 The Dunlins that breed in our islands represent 

 but a very small portion of the vast number that 

 winter on the British coasts. The majority of 

 these are from more northern haunts, winter 

 migrants, that haste away again with the return 

 of spring. During its residence on the coast the 

 Dunlin is remarkably gregarious, assembling often in 

 flocks of thousands, which, by preference seek such 

 portions of the shore as are low-lying and muddy. 

 Salt-marshes, slob-lands, estuaries and creeks, and 

 vast expanses of mud as the Wash for instance, are 

 the favourite haunts of the Dunlin. These large 

 flocks of Dunlins are much more difficult to 

 approach than smaller gatherings or individual 

 birds. Dunlins are active little birds, almost 

 incessantly in motion, running daintily about the 

 muds, by the margin of the waves, or wading 

 through the shallow tide pools. During the course 

 of feeding a large flock will become widely 

 scattered, and it is remarkable how quickly the 

 broken ranks reform. There are few sights so 



H 



