148 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



The Sanderling is a species of very wide geographical distribution^ 

 being found in suitable places nearly all over the world. 



It visits the shores of the great lakes in Ontario during the season 

 of migration, and appears in different dress according to age or the 

 season of the year. In spring the breast and foreneck are tinged 

 with pale rufous, but in autumn the whole lower parts are as white as 

 snow. It is a very active species, and, when feeding along the shore, 

 shows great celerity in following the receding wave, or keeping clear 

 of the next one that rolls up on the beach. When wounded in the 

 wing, it will run with great swiftness, and even take to the water and 

 swim well. In spring their visits to Hamilton Bay are uncertain 

 and of short duration, but on the return trip they appear about the 

 end of August, and are found all through the fall. 



The flocks of Sanderlings which come over the boundary into 

 Southern Ontario in May, soon pass on by easy stages up north, being 

 noticed at various points on the way. They have been found breed- 

 ing on the islands along the coast of Greenland, also in Grinnell 

 Land, and on the shores and islands of Hudson's Bay. Mr. Nelson 

 did not see the species at St. Michael's, but he says that it breeds 

 along the barren Arctic shore of the north Alaskan coast, east of 

 Point Barrow, but not in any numbers south of this point. 



It is found wintering in low latitudes on both shores of the Pacific, 

 but is rather rare on the coast of India. 



Genus LIMOSA Brisson. 

 LIMOSA FEDOA (Linn.). 



106. Marbled Godwit. (249) 



Tail, barred throughout with black and r\ifous ; rump and upper tail coverts 

 like the back; no pure white anywhere. General plumage, rufous, or cinnamon- 

 brown; below, nearly unmarked, and of very variable shade, usually deepest 

 on the lining of the wing ; above, variegated with black and brown or gray ; 

 quills, rufous and black ; bill, flesh -colored, largely tipped with black ; feet, 

 dark. Large. Length, 16-22; wing, about 9; tail, about 3i; bill, 4-5; tibia 

 bare, 1-1^; tarsus, 22-3:^; toes, 1|, stout. 



Hab. — North America, breeding in the interior (Missouri region and north- 

 ward), migrating in winter southward to Central America and Cuba. 



Nest, on the prairie, not far from water. 



Eggs, three or four ; olive-drab, spotted with various shades of umber-brown. 



The Marbled Godwit is occasionally seen singly, or in pairs, on the 

 lake shores of Ontario during the season of migration; but these can 



