230 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



in size, and have been separated as Pelidna pacifica. In winter 

 the Dunlins migrate south as far as California and the West 

 Indies in the New World, and also visit the coasts of China, 

 North-western India and the Mediterranean countries to the 

 Canaries on the west, and as far as Zanzibar on the East 

 African coast. As with so many of the waders, the Dunlin 

 varies considerably in size, and there is a small form found in 

 Europe which breeds along the Baltic and is not uncommon 

 on our English coasts. This is the bird usually known as 

 Schinz's Dunlin {Pelidna schi/izi). It is probably this small 

 form which has been found breeding in Italy and also in Spain. 

 I have often shot specimens of the small form, and was at one 

 time inclined to consider it a more solitary bird than the 

 common Long-billed Dunlin of our coasts, but I have also 

 found both long- and short-billed birds mixed up in the same 

 flock. 



Habits. In winter the Dunlin is decidedly the commonest 

 ot all our shore birds, and is sometimes seen in immense 

 flocks. When the tide is out, little parties may be seen feed- 

 ing in company on the edges of the shallow pools left by the 

 receding waters, while others are busily engaged in procuring 

 food on the mud-flats. When alarmed, they fly off with a 

 harsh note like the syllable s-k-r-e-e, and as one takes wing it is 

 generally joined by several others in the vicinity, which fly off 

 in company. When the tide is full, and the mud-flats are 

 covered, the Dunlins betake themselves to the sea-beach, and 

 congregate in large or small companies, occupying the time in 

 preening their plumage, or in sleeping with theii head turned 

 round and the bill hidden under their shoulder-feathers. 

 Even then they are not easy of approach, as they have 

 generally one or two sentinels posted, or are watched over by 

 the wary Ringed Plover. On such occasions they generally fly 

 a little way out to sea and settle again on the shingle at some 

 little distance, and as they wheel off, they go through some 

 evolutions which are interesting to watch, as at one moment 

 the flock becomes almost invisible in the bright sunlight and 

 then reappears as a little dark cloud moving about the surface 

 of the waves. At these times it is not easy to whistle them 

 within hail, but a^ the hour approaches for the tide to ebb, the 

 Dunlins become much more restless and occasionally little 



