VARIETIES OF THE DUNLIN. 93 



several specimens of both larger and smaller races in the writer's 



collection : — 



Smaller Form. 



Bill. Wings. 



<? Spurn, 1898 0-99 4-1 



c? Dunn Fell, 1884 1-1 42 



2 „ „ 1-2 4-3 



c? Teesdale, 1886 0-99 4-15 



2 „ „ 1-0 4-2 



Juvenile, Teesdale, 1882 1-05 4-2 



Adult, Eamsgill, 1886 1-2 4-5 



Juvenile ? Eamsgill, 1886 ... 1-2 4-3 



Larger Form 



Adult, Helmsley, 1891 



(? Spurn, 1887 



1-35 .... 



^'65 



1-3 



4-65 



? ,, 1882 



1-3 



4-6 



? ,, 1887 



1-3 



4-55 



? „ 1884 ...' 



1-4 



4-75 



^ „ 1887 



1-27 .... 



4-55 



In the foregoing lists it will be at once noticed that all the 

 large birds are from the sea-coast; and, oddlj' enough, among 

 several specimens before us, collected on the North of England 

 " fells " during the summer-time, not a single example of the 

 larger billed bird is to be found, nor can we recollect having seen 

 any but the smaller race upon these " fells." The question then 

 seems to resolve itself, first of all, into a distributional one as to 

 the breeding of the two forms ; that point settled, we shall surely 

 come one step nearer to a satisfactory basis upon which to 

 establish the validity or otherwise of Tringa schinzii as a species. 

 The writer has now been fortunate in discovering what may well 

 be looked upon as '* headquarters " for Yorkshire breeding 

 Dunlin, and it is to be hoped that during the coming season 

 careful observation can be made upon a large number of nesting 

 birds. 



Meantime the evidence of two well-known north-country 

 ornithologists must now be given as bearing in an important 

 manner upon the subject at issue. 



In a letter, dated Jan. 30th, 1899, Mr. Harvie-Brown writes 

 as follows: — " The short, straight-billed form breeds very abun- 

 dantly in the Outer Hebrides ; also in Tiree and elsewhere in 

 the west and north, where I have taken their eggs. Here also, 

 within five miles of this house (Larbert, Stirlingshire), in two 



