SANDERLING. 



SCOLOPACID^.] 



CALIDRIS ARENARIA (Linn^us). 



Explanation of Plate. 



V)'^nrc 1. Arctic Coast, Barren Grounds, Anderson River, June 29, 1863 ; R. MacFarlaue 



coll. No. 9383 U.S. National Museum Collection. 

 „ 2. Grinnell Land, lat. 82° 33', June 24, 1876; Col. Feilden coll. Natural 



History Museum, South Kensington. 

 „ 3. Iceland, 1875; W. Proctor. (Seebohm Collection.) Natural History Museum, 



South Kensington. 

 „ 4. Wollaston Land; collected by Singleton, Steward of H.M.S. 'Enterprise/ 



1852-53. In collection of E. Ridwell, Esq. 



The Sanderling is a regular spring and autumn migrant to the British 

 Islands, a few birds remaining throughout the winter in some districts. 



Me. Howard Saunders writes * : — " To the Faeroes the Sanderling is a somewhat 

 rare migi-ant, but it undoubtedly nests in some districts of Iceland ; and ten 

 eggs were obtained by the German expedition on Sabine Island, East Greenland, 

 whUe on the west side nestlings have been captured near Godthaab, and also in 

 81° 38' N. by Dr. Bessels of the ' Polaris.' Col. Feilden shot a male from two 

 eggs in lat. 82° 33' on June 24th, 187G, in Smith Sound, where the bird was not 

 uncommon ; Sabine has recorded it as breeding freely on the Parry Islands ; and 

 Mr. MacFarlane killed a female from the first authenticated eggs on the barren- 

 grounds near Anderson River. Westward, it ranges to North Alaska, and, 

 following up its circumpolar distribution, it has been found on the Liakov 

 Islands, Taimyr Peninsula, Yenesei delta, Waigats, and Novaya Zemlya, and 

 probably breeds near the mouth of the Petchora. Except in the Baltic, where it 

 is scarce, the SanderHng is tolerably common on passage along the coasts of 

 Europe and of the Atlantic Islands, a certain number wintering in the basin of 

 the Mediterranean, while others continue southward to Cape Colony and Natal ; 

 it is plentiful from the Persian Gulf to Ceylon, Borneo, and Java, and visits 



* ' Manual of British Birds,' pp. 583, 584. 



