PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 105 



ignore the genus Calidris, named first by Cuvier in 

 1800, and formally founded eleven years later by 

 Illiger, established as it is on such a trivial character 

 (all things considered) as the absence of a minute 

 and functionless hind toe is one of the commonest 

 and most widely distributed of Limicoline birds. 

 Comparatively few individuals remain on our coast 

 to winter, and these collect more especially on the 

 southern beaches. In winter plumage the dress 

 in which it is most familiar to British observers 

 the Sanderling is a delicate silvery-gray above and 

 pure white below ; but in the breeding season, 

 athough the underparts remain unchanged in colour, 

 the upper parts become mottled with chestnut and 

 black. Comparatively few Sanderlings reach the 

 British coasts before August, and the southward 

 migration continues during September. By the 

 middle of the latter month the bulk of the individ- 

 uals has passed beyond our limits ; by the end of 

 October but few remain, although some of these 

 prolong their stay over the winter. The return 

 migration begins in April, and lasts over May into 

 June. There can be little doubt that the Sanderling 

 migrates by night. Few birds are more trustful 

 and engaging than this pretty little Arctic stranger. 

 It not only frequents the long reaches of sand, 

 but mud - flats, estuaries, and the creeks and 

 streams in salt - marshes ; its favourite haunts, 

 however, are the sands. During its sojourn on 

 our coast it consorts in flocks of varying size ; 



