274 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Tringa. 



Sub-family SCOLOPACIN^. 



SANDERLING. 



Tringa arenaria, Lmnceus. 



(British : Common autumn and coasting migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter half of June. 



Breeding area : Northern Nearctic and Palaearctic 

 regions. The Sanderling has only been met with 

 nesting in the Old World in Iceland, but has been 

 observed in summer on the Golaievskai Islands in the 

 Petchora Gulf, on the Waigats and Nova Zembla, in the 

 delta of the Yenesay, on the Taimyr peninsula, and the 

 Liakoff Islands. In the New World it probably breeds 

 in Alaska, and has been found nesting on the Anderson 

 River (lat. 6'^''\ on the Parry Islands (lat. ']'^''\ in 

 Grinnell Land (lat. 82^^°), and in Greenland, on the west 

 coast near Smith South (lat. 79^), and Godthaab (lat. 

 63°) ; on the east coast, Sabine Island (lat. 74j°). 



Breeding habits : The Sanderling reaches its far- 

 away Arctic haunts late in May, or early in June, as soon 

 as open water and bare ground can be found. It is 

 gregarious during winter, and migrates north in flocks, 

 but these ultimately separate into pairs, and scatter over 

 the breeding grounds for the summer. Of the pairing 

 habits of the Sanderling nothing has been recorded, 

 fortunate observers woefully neglecting their oppor- 

 tunities, as usual. We have little information respecting 

 the habits of this Sandpiper during the breeding season. 

 MacFarlane was probably the first naturalist to take 

 the eggs, killing a female from the nest in North-west 

 America on the 29th of June, 1863. The breeding 

 haunts of this bird are the barren grounds and tundras 



