3:2 DUNLIN.
more than one instance has been known to suffer herself to be taken
with the hand sooner than forsake it. More commonly, if it be approached,
the male, and not iinfrequently the female also, will fly
towards any i n t r u d e r , and alighting near him, use every endeavour, as by
p r e t e n d i n g lameness and disability, to cheat him of a knowledge of
its s i t u a t i o n , b u t an opposite result to that intended is sometimes hazarded.
The Dunlin is not a shy bird, and is easily reconciled to confinement.
I t is good to eat in the autumn, on its first return to the sea.
They run along the sands in a sprightly manner, and very fast on
occasion, in a horizontal position of body, the head being carried in
the same way, and retracted with the neck, continually flirting up the
tail. They skim over the surface of the sea with great rapidity in a
semicircular course.
T h e y feed on small beetles, gnats, sand-flies, and other aquatic
insects and their larva?, worms, Crustacea, and mollusks, for which
they probe with the bill; and in quest of these run nimbly along
the sands by the edge of the sea, coursing, now here^ now there,
and then flying off to some short distance for a fresh search. They
frequently wade in a little way, or rather, are often overtaken by the
light foam of the spent wave, which their instinct tells them will in
a moment be withdrawn, in obedience to the Divine command imposed
on every element, and which, as it must obey, need therefore not be
feared. During the full tide they rest on some rock or other eminence,
or remain gathered together on the beach, awaiting the time when
they shall be able to return again to their feeding-places.
The ordinary note, which is frequently given utterance to, is only
a weak scream, a ' k w e e , kwee;' but the nude bird sings his best to
the female to amuse her wdiile sitting on the nest, or sounds a timely
a l a rm if any danger be thought to approach. AVhile at rest on the
ground, the cry is softer than when on the wing. They frequently
give a scream on first taking flight.
The nest is usually located under the shelter of some tuft or small
bush in any dry spot, on marshy moors and heaths, mosses or salt
marshes, as well as by the sea. It is often concealed, intentionally or
unintentionally, with great success, so as to be very difficult to find.
Sometimes, however, it is fashioned upon the open grass which grows
fresh and verdant here and there among the dark heather, 'lonely,
lonesome, cool, and green.' A few bits of moss, withered heath, or
grass, form its careless lining, if there be any in it, the same materials
being for the most part merely rounded into form—a natural cradle.
The eggs are four in number, of a greenish white, greenish grey,
or dull green colour, blotted and spotted with a darker and a lighter
DUNLIN. 3 3
shade of brown, most so towards and at the larger end. Some have
the ground a light blue inclining to dull white, others a clear light
green, richly spotted with light brown. They arc deposited in the nest
with the smaller ends inwards.
The young leave the nest as soon as hatched, and hide themselves
in the most recondite manner.
Male; weight, very variable, from nine drachms to eleven, and from
that to an ounce and a half; length about eight inches, but the size
appears variable as well as the plumage, sometimes being hall* an inch
less, or even, according to Sir William Jardine, an inch and a half or
two inches. The bill, slightly inclined at the tip, is black, iu winter
not so dark, and between it and the eye is an indistinct brown streak.
I r i s , brown, or dusky; over it a streak of white. Head on the sides,
streaked with light brown and grey; on the crown, a mixture of black
and ferruginous, or reddish orange, in winter grey, the centre of each
feather a little darker and the edge a little l i g h t e r ; the feathers of the
neck and nape, on their centres, streaked with black, the edges clear
reddish brown, in winter greyish and the edges still more so. Chin,
white; throat, greyish white streaked with black, in winter paler; breast
in summer, greyish white, spotted most on the upper part and sides
with black and dusky, and in the centre brownish black, each feather
narrowly tipped with white, forming a broken fringe, which extends
across to the sides; Montagu mentions a specimen in which the whole
of the breast was nearly black—others have more or less closely
approached this appearance; below black, in winter white. The back
above has the feathers black in the centre, with orange rufous edges,
and on the lower part brownish black, in winter nearly uniform ash grey,
the centre of each feather a little darker, and the edges a little paler.
The wings have the first quill feather the longest; they expand to
the width of about one foot three inches; greater and lesser wing
diverts, brown margined with pale ash grey, the longer ones having
white tips, forming an oblique bar across the wing; primaries, greyish
black with white shafts, in winter ash grey with darker centres and
paler margius; secondaries, greyish black edged with white, t h e shafts
white; tcrtiarics, black with rufous edges, which, in winter, t u r n to
greyish white. The tail, which is much cuueated, has some approach
to being doubly forked, the two middle feathers being the longest and
pointed; they are dark brown with paler edges, the others nearly
uniform ash grey with white shafts; upper tail coverts, a mixture of
black and grey, or deep brown with tinges of ferruginous, more or less
according to the season of the year; under tail coverts, white. Legs,
toes, and claws, black; the former in winter not so dark.
VOL. v. p