THE SANDERLING. 515 
No. 238. 
SANDERLING. 
A. O.U. No. 248. Calidris arenaria (Linn.). 
Description.—Adult in swimmer: Crown and upper parts in general blackish 
with heavy edging of ashy white, and with much striping, sub-marginal marking, 
or indenting and barring, of pale rufous; sides of head, throat, and neck all around, 
and sides of breast ashy white, strongly tinted with pale rufous, and finely spotted 
with dusky; remaining under parts pure white——the white well up on sides of 
rump, and including outer feathers of upper tail-coverts; wings, marginally, and 
including exposed portions of quills, fuscous; the greater coverts tipped with 
white, and the wing-quills changing to white on their inner webs and under sur- 
faces ; the inner primaries white basally on outer webs; tail dusky above, ashy gray 
on lateral feathers; bill and feet black. Adult in winter: Wings dusky, varied, 
on middle coverts, etc., with white; central upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers 
dusky ; remaining upper parts ashy gray (nearly pearl gray) ; the feathers, espe- 
cially on crown, with dusky shaft-lines; entire under parts pure white. Jimima- 
ture in fall: Somewhat like adult in summer, but without rufous anywhere; back, 
therefore, showing more black, varied chiefly by white in scant edgings and tips, 
or in liberal indentations on scapulars and tertials ; feathers of rump nearly square- 
ended, marked subterminally with light ashy gray, but tipped with a sharp, narrow 
band of blackish; under parts white-—or sometimes spotted on breast. Length 
7.00-8.75 (177.8-222.3); wing 4.82 (122.4); tail 2.11 (53.6); bill 1.06 (26.9); 
tarsus 1.02 (25.9). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; fine, mottled rufous-ash and black of 
spring birds ; excess of white in fall specimens ; black bill, strongly contrasting with 
adjacent plumage. Absence of hind toe, of course, distinctive. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground. Eggs, 3 or 4. 
light olive, or greenish brown, finely speckled and spotted with dark brown, chiefly 
about larger end. Av. size, 1.41 x .QI (35.8 x 23.1). 
General Range.—Nearly cosmopolitan, breeding in the Arctic and subarctic 
regions ; migrating in America south to Chili and Patagonia. 
Range in Ohio.—Fairly common on beaches of Lake Erie during migrations. 
Not common in the interior. 
THERE is a tide in the affairs of the Sanderling which, taken at the ebb, 
provides a momentary fortune of stranded crustaceans and marine insects. 
The bird follows the retreating billow with uplifted wing, quick to seize upon 
the wave’s disclosures, and ready at a sign to avoid the return of the fickle 
water. It is thus that we find him in May, and again late in August or Sep- 
tember, along the Lake Erie shore. The birds usually occur in considerable 
flocks, which deploy and feed silently at the water's edge; but single individuals 
or a half dozen are sometimes found in company with Semipalmated Sand- 
pipers or Semipalmated Plovers. In the latter case they may be readily distin- 
guished by their larger size, and, in the fall, by their lighter color. I once 
