CHARADRIIDA, 583 
THE DUNLIN. 
TRINGA ALP{NA, Linnzus. 
The Dunlin is the most numerous of the Sandpipers which fre- 
quent our shores and tidal rivers, and there it may be found through- 
out the year, for although many of the adults retire inland for 
nesting purposes, yet a number of immature birds remain during 
the summer. Its favourite breeding-quarters are wild and often 
elevated moorlands, which are comparatively rare in the south of 
England ; but nests have been found in Cornwall and Devon, and 
I have seen the young hardly able to fly on Exmoor in Somerset. 
In Wales it undoubtedly nests in Cardiganshire and Merionethshire, 
and it formerly did so in the marshes of the Dee in Cheshire ; while 
it still breeds in Lancashire, and in some numbers on the mosses 
on both sides of the Solway. On the east side its eggs have been 
obtained in Lincolnshire, and pairs are scattered over the moors 
from Yorkshire northwards to the Cheviots. In Scotland, where 
suitable situations abound, the bird is pretty generally distributed 
on the mainland, though local in Sutherland; and it is rather 
plentiful on many of the islands as far as the Shetlands. In 
Ireland, it nests locally, from Wicklow up to Donegal and London- 
derry ; while in autumn and winter it frequents the coasts in 
thousands. 
The Dunlin varies considerably in size, length of bill, and colour 
of plumage ; and even in the Palearctic region there appear to be 
