SANDERLING. 223 



large white pebbles, bits of paper, or flecks of foam. As you approach 

 nearer, these white objects begin to move, running along before you and 

 taking care to keep just out of gunshot, feeding all the time in the most 

 unconcerned manner. If flushed they usually fly out to sea, and pass along 

 the coast just above the water for a hundred yards or so, and then again 

 come inshore and alight on the sands. They are very active little birds 

 and seem ever bent on searching the coast most minutely for their food. 

 When running to and fro they often unfold their wings and elevate them 

 above their backs for a moment. Should a bird be wounded it will take 

 to the water and float buoyantly, and it is said that they will even dive ; 

 but such modes of progression are never indulged in under ordinary circum- 

 stances. Sometimes when a flock of these birds is disturbed they will rise 

 and wheel and turn in the air. 



The food of the Sanderling during its stay in this country consists 

 principally of small crustaceans, sand-worms, small beetles, and insects ; 

 its stomach also generally contains a small quantity of coarse sand, and 

 sometimes little pieces of seaweed. In summer the Sanderling is pro- 

 bably more insectivorous ; but, like the Knot, it was observed by Captain 

 Feilden in Grinnell Land to feed on the buds of the saxifrage. The note 

 of the Sanderliug is a clear sharp wick. 



Of the habits of the Sanderling during the breeding-season we know 

 little. It possibly pairs before it leaves its winter- quarters ; for it has 

 been observed in chase of its mate on the sands. It arrives at its breeding- 

 place as soon as the snow is sufficiently melted to allow it to find food, and 

 shortly after its arrival nesting-duties are commenced. Probably the first 

 authentic eggs of the Sanderling were obtained by MacFarlane on the 

 Barren Grounds, close to the shore of the Arctic Ocean, a little east of the 

 Anderson River, in North-west America. He found the nest 011 the 29th 

 of June, 1863 ; it contained four fresh eggs, and the female was captured. 

 The nest was slight, made of a little dry grass and leaves. In 1876 

 Captain Feilden added further to our knowledge concerning this interesting 

 little bird. He found it breeding at the extreme northern limit of animal 

 life on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, a little to the west of Cape Union, 

 in Grinnell Land. He observed several pairs of birds, and found one nest, 

 containing two eggs, on the 24th of June. It was placed on a gravel ridge, 

 several hundred feet above sea-level, and consisted merely of a slight 

 depression in the centre of a recumbent plant of willow, lined with a few 

 dead leaves and last year's catkins. At this nest the male was killed; so 

 that it appears that both parents assist in incubating the eggs. On the 

 8th of August of the same year he observed several parties of young 

 Sanderlings just able to fly, and with down still sticking to their feathers, 

 being led about by their parents and searching diligently for insects. 



The eggs of the Sanderliug are four in number, buffish olive in ground- 



