21 6 The I}ish Natiualist. October, 



followed the two old birds along the edge of the tide, pausing 

 when they did, and huddled closely up to them as if for 

 companionship and protection. I returned home thoroughly 

 puzzled, and as an experiment took a pair of Sanderling in 

 nuptial dress and also a pair of birds of the year that I had set 

 up in my collection and placed them at the end of a room ; 

 allowing for the distance, their appearance seemed to favour my 

 suspicion that the birds I had seen might have been parents and 

 young. Although keeping a close watch on the bank through 

 the early daj'sof July, 1906, I failed to meet with an\' Sander- 

 line until the 12th, when I came across a flock of fifteen birds, 

 in company of about thirt}' Du ilin in summer plumage, that 

 is, all having black breasts. The Sanderling had forsaken 

 the water's edge, and were feeding voraciouslj^ on sand-hoppers 

 in immense quantities among the refuse of the tidal fringe 

 high up on the beach. On July 15th I lound nine Sanderling 

 near the same place, and on July 17th there was still the 

 same number, nine, but on Jul}^ 28th the number had risen to 

 forty-two birds. On July 29th I paid a visit to the North Bull 

 on the opposite side of Dublin Bay, as I wished to see what 

 Sanderling I was likely to meet there. I saw a considerable 

 flock of waders a long wa}' out on the wet sand at the water's 

 edge. They were all Sanderling, numbering fifty birds, and com- 

 paratively tame, as I easily got within sixty j^ards of them. 

 It occurred to me that this flock ma}^ have been the same that 

 I met with the previous evening on the Shelh' Bank, but I 

 could not account for their being so tame, perhaps they re- 

 turned there at high water. Coming now to the year 1907, as 

 early as the 6th of July I discovered that a small party of 

 seven Sanderling were frequenting the Shelly Bank. None of 

 them showed any trace of red colouring, they were all of the 

 grey type of plumage that puzzled me so much. About this 

 time I conceived the idea of taking a trip and searching the 

 coast of Drogheda, about thirty miles off. On July 14th I 

 found myself at the mouth of the Boyne, where so many years 

 before I had obtained my first specimen, and walking along 

 the water's edge I soon espied a flock of small waders^ mixed 

 up with a number of Common and Black-headed Gulls, and 

 getting the glass on them counted thirty-seven Sanderling. 

 Unlike the Dublin birds, these were ver}- wild and unapproach- 

 able, and all flew back when alarmed in the direction of the 



