RUFF. 229 



in autumn, and Mr. H. P. Hornby writes me that in 

 September, 1881, he shot a male and two females out 

 of a small flock near St. Michael's-on-Wyre. At this 

 season, young birds and Reeves (females) are most fre- 

 quently met with. 



GENUS CALIDRIS. 



SANDEELING. 



Calideis arenaria (Linnfeus). 



The Sanderling is a regular migrant in spring and 

 autumn, and individuals have occasionally been shot in 

 the winter months. Unlike its congeners, it appears to 

 frequent in greater numbers the mouth of the Mersey 

 than the more northern parts of the shore, and Mr. H. 

 Durnford {ZooL, July, 1873) speaks of flocks in the 

 spring of that year exceeding those of the Dunlin : he 

 also remarks on the well-known preference of the 

 species for drier situations, and sand-banks rather than 

 mud-flats, and probably this is in part the reason why 

 the one locality is more favoured than the others. It 

 remains very late in the spring, and Mr. James Cooper, 

 writing in 1845 {ZooL, p. 1192), says he shot it on 

 June 6th on the banks of the Pdbble, and has seen it 

 even later : such birds have always assumed the com- 

 plete breeding-plumage. It does not appear to be 

 noticed in autumn on the coast much before September, 

 and inland is not at all uncommon, being sometimes, 

 as Mr. R. Davenport tells me, plentiful on the Bury 

 reservoir. 



