218 DUNLIN 
TRINGA ALPINA, Linn. DUNLIN. 
There is scarcely a month in the year in which this 
species may not be observed on the Manx coast, though 
seldom in the immense flocks described in other localities. 
Through the winter season a few regularly consort with 
larger numbers of Ringed Plover in Castletown Bay, the 
mixed flocks feeding and flying with the most complete 
accord. Here the wires which carry telephonic communica- 
tion along the Langness isthmus to the Golf Links Hotel 
and the lighthouse are sometimes fatal to both species in 
their flights from bay to bay. 
In May I have seen large numbers on the north-west 
coast, and in July the return movement seems already to 
have commenced; a large proportion of these migrants is 
in full breeding plumage. In these migrations Dunlins 
temporarily frequent many spots where none are to be 
seen in winter, and may be met with more or less along 
the whole coast, especially where there are sandy or 
gravelly nooks, or low reefs under the cliffs. A flock of 
Dunlin in flight is a very pretty sight, but not more 
beautiful than a single bird in the russet, black, and white 
of the summer plumage, running daintily among the white 
pebbles of a beach like the Traie Vane, or in the clear, 
shallow water at the edge of the northern sands. 
At Douglas the bird is not common, and those that 
appear there are but stragglers; but on 7th January 1894 
I saw one flying along the Victoria Pier, while a few 
others were on the sands with Ringed Plovers and Purple 
Sandpipers. Stray single birds are often very familiar. 
On 8th August 1893 a single bird was on the beach below 
the Esplanade; the roadway was crowded with summer ~ 
visitors, many were walking on the sand, and the bird, | 
