AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 77 



ol a Knot from Mr. H. Field of Kettering, who 

 informed me that the bird had been picked up dead, 

 close to that town, on December 8th, 1890. 



152. SANDERLING. 



Calidris arenarla. 



Only one occurrence of this bird in Northampton- 

 shire has come to my knowledge. In a letter from 

 Mr. A. G. Elliot, written to me in February 1876, 

 I find — " Sanderling (Calidris arenaria) by T. C. 

 Knapp, Esq., Tixover Hall, Rutland, stuffed by me." 

 No date or locality is given, but as Mr. Elliot was at 

 the time furnishing me with a list of the birds of our 

 county and its immediate neighbourhood, and was 

 well acquainted with this species, I presume that the 

 bird in question was killed at or near Tixover, and 

 have therefore no hesitation in according it a place 

 in these Notes. 



The Sanderling may be distinguished at a glance 

 from all the other members of its family by the 

 absence of a hind toe, and on that account was 

 formerly classed by naturalists amongst the Plovers. 

 My personal acquaintance with this bird is but small, 

 though I have met with it generally in what appeared 

 to be family parties of five or six, on various parts of 

 the English, Welsh, and Irish coasts, and in larger 

 numbers on those of the Bay of Biscay and the 

 Mediterranean. I have never met this bird on the 

 mud-flats so dear to most of the Sandpipers, but have 

 always found it frequenting hard sea sands, and I 

 imagine that its occurrence at any considerable 

 distance from salt water is accidental and unusual. 



