208 Order XIII 



respectively, but there can be no doubt of the bird 

 breeding in north Greenland and Arctic America 

 also, for it has been found in summer and its downy 

 young picked up in more than one district. It visits 

 our shores in great numbers between late August and 

 May, being then grey above and white with darker 

 spots below. In its northern home it is black above 

 with chestnut and white markings, and uniform 

 chestnut below, except for the flanks and tail-coverts, 

 which are black and white, and the head and nape, 

 which are streaky reddish brown. The flight is stronger 

 than in most of our smaller waders, but the food in winter 

 is similar ; in the far Arctic regions it subsists as best 

 it can on insects and buds of lowly plants. Large 

 flocks are usually formed on our coasts, and the birds 

 are then very quiet in summer they are said to soar 

 and clap their wings over their backs. Knots used to 

 be fattened for the table in the seventeenth century. 



The Sanderling (Calidris arenaria) visits us at the 

 same seasons as the Knot, but only a small proportion 

 of the migrants remain during the winter. The flight 

 is seldom long sustained, and the flocks often circle 

 round again to the feeeding ground from which they 

 have been disturbed, while they have a decided liking 

 for running at the edge of the tide on sandy shores. 

 Whether it be summer or winter the food resembles 

 that of the Knot, and both breed in the far north of the 

 New and the Old World, but the Sanderling has also 

 been reported to do so in Iceland. The note is mono- 

 syllabic and shrill ; the nest is of the slightest descrip- 

 tion, the eggs are pale greenish with dull brown spots 

 and are curiously like light specimens of those of the 

 Curlew, except in size. This species is pretty common 



