272 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



advance so that one can tell in which direction the bird is going. A close 

 inspection of the probings often reveals their double character, showing that 

 the bill was introduced partly open. The probings are for the minute sand 

 fleas and other crustaceans in the sand, their principal food. I have seen 

 sanderlings running about nimbly on the beach, catching the sand fleas which 

 were hopping on the surface. I have also seen them catching flies. I have a 

 record of one I shot in 1884, whose stomach was stuffed with small specimens of 

 the common mussel, Mytilus edulis. 



The food consists mainly of sand fleas, shrimps, and other small 

 crustaceans, small mollusks, marine worms, flies, fly larvae, and other 

 insects, and sometimes a few seeds. Early in the season in the 

 Arctic regions when animal life of all kinds is scarce the sanderling 

 is said to subsist on the buds of saxifrage and other plants, as well as 

 bits of moss and algae. 



Behavior. — I have always loved to walk by the seashore alone 

 w 7 ith Nature, and especially to tramp for miles over the hard sands 

 of our ocean beaches, where the heaving bosom of the restless sea 

 sends its flood of foaming breakers rolling up the steep slopes, cut 

 into hills and valleys by the action of the waves. From the crest of 

 the beach above or from the lonely sand dunes beyond comes the 

 mellow whistle of the plover, disturbed in his reveries; out over the 

 blue waters a few terns are fitting about or screaming in anxiety for 

 their, now well grown, young perched on the beach. Flocks of small 

 shore birds hurry past w T ell out over the breakers, flashing light or 

 dark, as they wheel and turn ; and high overhead the big gray gulls 

 are circling. But right at our feet is one of the characteristic fea- 

 tures of the ocean beach, a little flock of feeding sanderlings, confid- 

 ing little fellows, apparently unmindful of our presence. They run 

 along ahead of us as fast as we can walk, their little black legs 

 fairly twinkling with rapid motion. They are intent only on pick- 

 ing up their little bits of food and most skillfully avoid the incom- 

 ing wave by running up the beach just ahead of it; occasionally 

 a wave overtakes one when it flutters above it; then as the wave 

 recedes they run rapidly down with it, quickly picking up what food 

 they find. If we force them to fly, which they seem reluctant to do, 

 they circle out over the waves and settle on the beach again a short 

 distance ahead of us; by repeating this maneuver again and again 

 they lead us on and on up the beach, until, tired of being disturbed, 

 they finally make a wide circle out over the water around us and 

 alight on the beach far behind us. Their flight is swift, direct, and 

 generally low over the water, with less of the twistings and turnings 

 so common among shore birds. They usually flock by themselves, 

 but are often associated in small numbers with knots, small plovers, 

 or other beach-loving species. When satiated with food or tired 

 of strenuous activity, they retire to the crest of the beach, or the 



