THE DUNLIN Oil PUERE. 
291 
like silver lines^ occasionally of great lengtli. A flock flying for 
a great distance just above the margin of the flowing tide^ has 
strongly resembled^ from their white plumage being displayed^ a 
single wave sweeping rapidly onwards. March 10, 1840. — I was 
particularly attracted by the beauty of a large flock, one moment 
shooting out in the form of a cornucopia, the next gathered into 
a circle ; one instant almost dazzling by their extreme brightness, 
the next dark in hue, and again, on the turn of the wing, exhibit- 
ing both light and darkness. When the back or breast is turned 
towards the spectator, every bird is individualized or distinctly 
marked ; but when they sweep so as to show only the line of the 
back, they are almost invisible. 
January 27, 1847. — Within the railway embankment opposite 
the Grove,^'’ I saw a flock of not less than 2,500 dunlins, and about 
300 yards from them another of about 1,500. The larger body 
rising into the air and going through their brilHant evolutions, 
attracted every one on the adjacent highway ; most of the people 
standing stiU in admiration of them. Descending from on wing, 
they all swept down in the same direction, and covered an extent 
of bank in such a manner as to remind me of grain thrown from 
the hands of the sower until it reaches the ground and is scattered 
along its surface. Every bird of the multitude, on alighting, 
moved at the same moderate pace, between walking and running, 
about equidistant from each other, and their heads being all simi- 
larly elevated they had a most formal and singular appearance. All, 
too, were, as usual, when thus congregated at any season (according 
to my observation), uttering their notes, which sounded most 
pleasingly musical. The voices of a host of dunlins occasionally 
gives as good an illustration of multitudinous sound as I can well 
imagine. December 24, 1840. — After the tide had ebbed for a 
considerable way I saw more dunlins close to the road before 
Eort William, than I had ever before observed in so small a space. 
There could not have been less than 5,000 — as many as 3,000 
were in a dense flock, busily feeding and keeping up a thrilling 
concert, like grey linnets when congregated previous to roosting — 
the others were somewhat more scattered. A few days afterwards. 
