DvnLIN. GRALLATORES. TRINGA. 155 
rectness of that opinion by which these supposed different 
species have been pronounced identical, under peculiar mo- 
difications of plumage. The Dunlin, or (as it is called in 
its winter dress) the Purre, is a very well known and nume- 
rous species, frequenting in immense flocks the sandy bays 
and oozy shores of the whole line of our coast. In the 
southern parts of Britain it is a winter visitant, and conse- Periodical 
quently oftenest observed in its plain, or ash-grey plumage ; Liisi 
and it is only in spring, immediately previous to its depar- 
ture for more northern latitudes, or early in autumn, on its 
first return, that a few are seen clothed in the garb proper 
to the Dunlin of earlier authors. In Scotland and its islands, 
this bird may be considered indigenous, as great numbers 
are known to breed not only upon the sea coast, but in the 
marshes of the interior. A few also remain in Northumber- 
land, which may be called the southern limit of the perma- 
nent residence of the species. It is not to be supposed, 
‘however, that the multitudes that people our northern shores 
are the offspring of such only as breed in this latitude; they 
are principally composed of migrants from countries farther 
northward, to which the great body retires during summer, 
as offering peculiar facilities for the reproduction of the 
species, but which, upon the approach of frost, and ‘when 
food begins to fail, send forth their now increased flocks 
southward, in search of warmer winter quarters, where a 
more plentiful supply of nourishment may await them.—Like 
many of its congeners, the flight of this species is attended 
with such regular evolutions, as no one who has enjoyed the 
opportunity of visiting the parts of our coast frequented by 
Purres, and other scolopaceous birds, can have failed to re- 
mark. I allude to the glancing and simultaneous exposure 
of the upper or under surface of the body by every indivi- 
dual of a flock (be it ever'so numerous), as it sweeps along 
the surface of the ocean, or across the shining sands. In 
Scotland, the Purre breeds upon the shingle at the mouths 
of rivers, or on the salt marshes near the coast, as well as in 
