THE SANDERLING. 665 



No. 267. 

 SANDERLING. 



A. O. U. No. 248. Calidris leucophsa (Pallas). 



Description. — Adult in siniiiiicr: Crown and iipperparts in general blackish 

 with heavy edging of ashy white, and with much striping, sub-marginal marking, 

 or indenting and barring, of pale rufous: sides of head, throat, and neck all 

 around, and sides of breast ashy white, strongly tinted with pale rufous, and finely 

 spotted with dusky : remaining underparts pure white, — the white well up on sides 

 of rump, and including outer feathers of upper tail-coverts ; wings, marginally, 

 and including exposed portions of quills, fuscous ; the greater coverts tipped with 

 white, and the wing-quills changing to white on their inner webs and under sur- 

 faces : the inner primaries white basally on outer webs : tail dusky above, ashy 

 gray on lateral feathers; bill and feet black. Adult in zcintcr: \\'ings dusky, 

 varied, on middle coverts, etc., with white: central upper tail-c<jverts and tail- 

 feathers dusky : remaining npperparts ashy gray ( nearly pearl grav ) : the feathers, 

 especially on crown, with dusky shaft-lines: entire underparts jnire white. Imma- 

 ture in fall: Somewhat like adult in summer, but without rufous anywhere: 

 back, therefore, shoAving more Iilaclc, varied chiefly by white in scant edgings and 

 tips, or in liberal indentations on sca])ulars and tertials: feathers of rump nearly 

 square-ended, marked subterminally with light ashy gray, but tipi)ed with a sharp, 

 narrow band of blackish: undcr])arts white, — or sometimes spotted on breast. 

 Length 7.00-8.75 (177.8-222.3): wing 4.82 (122.4): tail 2.11 (53.6): bill 1.06 

 (26.C/) : tarsus 1.02 (25.1)). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size: fine, mottled rufous-ash and black of 

 spring birds: excess of white in fall specimens: black bill, .strongly contrastiu'' 

 with adjacent plumage, .\bsence of hind toe, of course, distinctive. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. Nest: on the ground. Eggs: ^ 

 or 4, light olive, or greenish brown, finely speckled and spotted with dark brown", 

 chiefly about larger end. .\y. size, 1.41 x .91 (35.8x23.1). 



General Range. — Nearly cosmopolitan, breeding in the Arctic and subarctic 

 regions : migrating in America south to Chili and Patagonia. 



Range in Washington. — Rare migrant west of the Cascades only (Blaine, 

 Sept. I. 1904). 



Authorities. — Calidris arenaria (T.imi.). Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Sury. IX., 

 1858, p. 724. 



Specimens. — (U. ofW. ) Prov. B. 



THERE is a tide in the affairs of the Sanderling which, taken at the ebb. 

 pro\-ides a momentary fortune of stranded crustaceans and marine insects. 

 The bird follows the retiring billows with uplifted wing, quick to seize upon 

 the wave's disclosures, and ready at a sign to a\-oid the return of the fickle 

 water. It is thus that we find him in Ma\-, and again late in August or Sep- 

 tember, along the Pacific shore and about the flats and inlets of Puget Sound 



