39 2 The Water-fowl Family 



on the shores of Bering Sea and the coast and 

 islands of Alaska about the mouth of the Yukon. 

 They arrive here in May, and toward the end of 

 the month breed near the pools about the shore. 

 The note at this time is almost musical, and the 

 mated birds are devoted to each other. The 

 courting of this species is much the same pretty 

 performance as that of the red-backed sandpiper, 

 the same author tells us, and also describes how 

 the male, to show his best to his wished-for mate, 

 trailing his wings, elevating and partly spreading 

 his tail, struts before her " like a pygmy turkey- 

 cock." The nest is placed on elevated ground, 

 on the moss, or grassy hummock, and the female 

 watches faithfully her eggs. The young are 

 hatched in June, and by late September the flocks 

 have passed on to the southern shores. 



SANDERLING 

 (Caladris arenaria) 



Adult male and female in breeding plumage Top of head and 

 neck, back and scapulars, have the centre of the feathers black, 

 edged with rufous brown and grayish white, the latter color pre- 

 dominating ; wing-coverts, ashy brown, tipped with rufous or 

 gray ; greater coverts, edged with white, forming a broad bar 

 across the wing ; primaries, dark brown ; rump, dark brown, 

 feathers edged with grayish white or rufous brown ; middle tail- 

 coverts, black, margined with rufous ; lateral tail-coverts, white, 

 with occasional black streaks ; tail, grayish brown ; sides of head, 

 throat, neck, and breast, light rufous, streaked and speckled with 

 black ; rest of under parts, white. 



