410 CHARADRIID^E CALIDRIS 



Habits. Andersson found the Curlew Sandpiper the commonest 

 of all the migratory Waders at Walvisch Bay and along the neigh- 

 bouring coast, and states that it congregates in flocks, not infre- 

 quently in company with the Little Stint and the Sanderling. Its 

 flight is strong and swift, and its food consists of aquatic insects, 

 small Crustacea and worms, which it obtains on the mud banks at 

 the mouths of rivers and in similar situations. 



Genus V. CALIDRIS. 



Type. 

 Calidris, Briss. Orn. v, p. 226 (1760) : C. arenaria. 



Bill moderate, about equal to the tarsus, slender and flexible, 

 almost straight ; nostrils linear ovals in a depression extending 

 nearly the whole length of the bill ; wings long, first primary 

 longest ; tail nearly square, but the two central tail-feathers pointed 



FIG. 131. Left foot of Calidris arenaria. x \ 



and projecting slightly beyond the others ; tarsus transversely 

 scutellated before and behind ; no hind toe ; anterior toes cleft to 

 the base and without webs. 



This genus was formed for the reception for a single species, the 

 Sanderling, which is found nearly all over the world ; it is closely 

 allied to the Stints but easily distinguished by the absence of the 

 hind toe. 



750. Calidris arenaria. Sanderling. 



Tringa arenaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 251 (1766) ; Seebohm, 



Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 431, with fig. (1888). 

 Calidris arenaria, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. 



p. 332 (1867) ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 311 (1872) ; 



Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86 ; Dresser, B. Enr. viii, p. 101, pis. 559, 560 



