106 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 
and very frequently a small party attach them- 
selves to a larger gathering. of Dunlins, or 
Ringed Plovers. Indeed for the society of the 
latter birds the Sanderling shows a strongly 
marked preference. We may safely say that, 
during the migration period, most large bunches 
of Ringed Plovers contain a varying number of 
Sanderlings. Its actions on the sand are very 
similar to those of the Ringed Plover, but it 
does not appear ever to run in such fits and ‘starts, 
searching the ground more systematically, after the 
manner of a Stint ora Dunlin. During high water 
the Sanderling very often resorts to the higher 
shingle, and skulks amongst the pebbles, sometimes 
remaining unseen until nearly trodden upon, so 
closely does its white and gray dress resemble the 
stones among which it nestles. Upon the dark muds 
and the wet shining brown sands it is much more 
conspicuous; and there are few prettier sights 
along the shore than a scattered flock of Sander- 
lings, standing head towards the observer, looking 
like so many white balls of animated snow. It 
searches for its food by running to and fro about 
the beach, often on the very margin of the spent 
waves, sometimes wading through the shallows, 
or quickly dodging the foam-flecked in-driving surf. 
Its food consists of sand-worms, crustaceans, various 
insects and great quantities of small molluscs. In 
summer, however, it is almost exclusively insect- 
ivorous, but also feeds on the buds of the Arctic 
