SANDERLING. 221 



CALIDRIS ARENARIA. 

 SANDERLING. 



(PLATE 27.) 



Tringa calidris grisea minor, Eriss. Orn. v. p. 236, pi. xx. fig. 2 (1760). 



Tringa arenaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 251 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Nawnann), (Temminck), (Dresser), (Sounders), &c. 

 Charadrius calidris, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 255 (1766). 

 Charadrius rubidus, Gmel Syst. Nat. i. p. 688 (1788). 

 Arenaria vulgaris, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 462 a, pi. 39 (1803). 

 Arenaria grisea, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. iii. p. 368 (1809). 

 Arenaria calidris (Linn.), Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 326 (1810). 

 Calidris arenaria (Linn.), Ulig. Prodr. p. 249 (1811). 

 Calidris rubidus (Gmel.), Vieill. N. Diet. cfHist. Nat. xxx. p. 127 (1819). 

 Calidris tringoides, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. iii. p. 95, pi. 234 (1825). 

 Trynga tridactyla, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 198 (1826). 



The Sanderling visits all suitable portions of the coasts of the British 

 Islands in autumn and in spring, on its way to and from its northern 

 breeding-grounds. Most of the birds that arrive here in autumn only 

 linger a short time and then pass southwards, but a few remain over the 

 winter in many districts, especially on the south and east coasts. It also 

 visits the adjoining islands, as well as the mainland, being well known in 

 the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the Hebrides, and the Channel Islands. 



The Sanderling is a circumpolar bird, and doubtless breeds on all the 

 coasts of the Arctic Ocean, though its eggs have only been taken on the 

 Anderson River (lat. 68), in Grinnell Land (lat. 82^), Greenland, Sabine 

 Island (lat. 74^), and in Iceland (lat. 65). On the Asiatic coast I have 

 shot it myself in July in lat. 69, Middendorff observed it on the Taimur 

 peninsula in lat. 74, and it is a common bird in summer in Alaska. Its 

 lines of migration are not only along the coasts of Europe, Asia, and 

 America, but also across country, as it occurs in some numbers in spring 

 and autumn on the Volga, the Kama, and at Lake Baikal. Its winter 

 range is very extensive, including the basin of the Mediterranean and the 

 rest of the coasts of Africa and the adjoining islands. It is particularly 

 common on the Mekran caast, but very rare in India, Ceylon, and Burma. It 

 is a winter visitor to China, Japan, and the islands of the Malay archipelago, 

 the whole of the coasts of South America, the West Indies, and the Ber- 

 mudas. It is not known that throughout this extensive area of distribution 

 it is subject to any local variation doubtless in consequence of the limited 

 area of its breeding-range, which, though circumpolar, is very contracted 

 in consequence of its being so far north. The Sanderling has no very near 



