LIVELY AND GREGARIOUS. 
Ill 
with the true Sandpipers, wliicli form the genus Tringa^ 
and of which no less than ten species are residents in, or 
visitors to, the British Isles. The above-named is the 
commonest, and therefore claims the first place; it is known 
by a variety of names, such as Purre, Stint, Sea Snipe or 
Lark, Plover's Page, Ox-bird, Ox-eye, Dorbie, &c. There 
is scarcely a part of the coasts of Great Britain, or Ireland, 
in which this bird is not found in considerable numbers 
during a great part of the year, but especially in the 
autumn and winter. During the breeding season the 
Dunlins betake themselves to the moors and other waste 
places, often but a short distance from their marine haunts ; 
some, however, retire to more northerly climes. Their 
nests are slight hollows in dry places, lined, perhaps, with 
a few sprigs of withered heath or dry grass, irregularly 
placed ; the eggs are four in number, of a light grey greenish 
colour, spotted and blotched with umber and purplish 
brown. Audubon says, that ^ if during incubation a 
person approaches their retreats, the male especially, but 
frequently the female also, flies up to meet the intruder, 
settles on a tuft near him, or runs along, and uses the same 
artifices for decoying him from the nest or young as the 
Plover or Eing Dotterel.' 
The usual length of this bird is about seven inches and 
a-half ; the general colour of the plumage of the upper 
parts is brownish grey, each feather having a dusky central 
line ; at the sides the tints grow paler, until they become 
altogether white on the throat, breast, and abdomen. The 
male and female are much alike in colour, the latter being 
considerably larger than the former. * During autumn,' 
says Yarrell, * particularly v/hen the j^arent birds return to 
their marine localities, and are joined by their broods of 
the year, immense flocks of Dunlins may be seen busily 
employed close to the edge of the sea, searching and prob- 
ing for the minute animals on Avhich they feed. They 
frequent sandy flats and bars which project into the sea ; 
they are observed to be incessantly upon the move, shifting 
their ground perpetually, running nimbly along, or taking 
short flights from place to place, frequently wading to 
follow the aquatic insects, worms, mollusca, and the smaller 
