CHARADRIIDyE. 



597 



THE SANDERLING. 



Calidris arenaria (Linnaeus). 



This species — easily recognisable by the absence of a hind-toe — 

 usually arrives on the coasts of the United Kingdom by the middle 

 of August, and the early flocks, though chiefly of young, often 

 contain many older birds. Throughout the autumn the Sander- 

 ling is plentiful on the sandy portions of our shores, though 

 less numerous on the mud-flats, while it occasionally visits large 

 expanses of water inland ; comparatively few, however, remain on 

 any part of our coasts throughout the entire winter. By April the 

 return passage — in smaller numbers — commences ; birds in breeding- 

 dress being observed through May and even in June. 



To the Faeroes the Sanderling is a somewhat rare migrant, but 

 it seems to have nested in some districts of Iceland. Ten eggs were 

 obtained by the German expedition of 1869-70 on Sabine Island, East 

 Greenland ; while on the west side nestlings have been captured near 

 Godthaab, as well as in 81° 38' N. by Dr. Bessels of the 'Polaris,' 

 and the Peary Expedition found the bird breeding. On June 24th 

 1876 Col. Feilden shot a male from two eggs in lat. 82^ ■^;^' on Smith 

 Sound, where the bird was not uncommon ; Sabine recorded it as 

 breeding freely on the Parry Islands ; and Mr. MacFarlane killed a 



