8i6 .VESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



ploughed field, with only a few pieces of decayed gi'ass stems to keep the 



eggs from the damp soil In Pennsylvania, the iCggs are 



hatched out early in June, and there, as elsewhere, only a single brood 

 is raised in one season. The nest is always placed in an open situation, 

 but notwithstanding this circumstance it is not easily foimd without 

 the aid of a good dog trained for the purpose." 



Sub-family — Scolopacin^ : Snipes. 



630. — Calidris akenaeia, Linnaeus. 

 SANDERLING. 



I'igure. — Gould : Birds of Great Britain, vol. iv., pi. 66. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 526. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Newton : Proc. Zool. Soc, pi. 4, fig. 

 2 (1871); Feilden— Nares : Voy. Polar Sea, vol. ii., pi. i 

 (187S) ; Seebohm : Britiih Birds, pi. 27, fig. S (1887). 



Geographical Distrihiifioii. — West and North-west Australia, North 

 Queensland and New South Wales; nearly cosmopolitan, and breeding 

 in the Arctic regions. 



Nest. — Slight, made of a. little dry gi-ass and leaves (Seebohm). 



Ef/i/>!. — Clutch, four; colour, buffish-olive, tliickly mottled and 

 spotted with pale olive-brown and with a few indistinct underlying 

 markings of violet-grey, the ma.jority of the mar-kings being on the 

 larger ends. Dimensions in inches: from r44 to 1'33 in length by 

 from -99 to -92 in breadth (Seebohm). 



Ohservafioii.t. — The Sanderling is easily recognised by the absence of 

 a hind toe. AccorcUng to Henry Seebohm, this wandering bird doubtless 

 breeds on all the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, though its iggs have only 

 been taken on the Anderson River, in Grinnell Land, Greenland, Sabine 

 Island and in Iceland. On the Asintic coast he himself shot it in July, 

 MiddcndorfF observed it on the Taimyr Peninsula, while it is a common 

 bird in summer in Alaska. 



On its migi-ation southward to winter in various countries, tho 

 Sanderling no doubt is a regular visitor to the north-west coast of 

 Australia, judging by the field notes Mr. Tom Caa-ter has furnished me 

 with from time to time. 



However, the first intimation wo have of the Sanderling being an 

 Australian bird is found in Ca])taiii (afterwards Rear-.Vdiiiiral) Stokes's 

 " Discoveries in Australia," vol. ii , p. 2.'j4. WlieninHalifax Hay, North 

 Queensland, June, 1841, ho wrote: "Our game bag was thinly lined 

 with small Curlews, Oyster Catchers, and Sanderlings." 



