io6 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



and very frequently a small party attach them- 

 selves to a larger gathering of Dunlins, or 

 Ringed Plovers. Indeed for the society of the 

 latter birds the Sanderling shows a strongly 

 marked preference. We may safely say that, 

 during the migration period, most large bunches 

 of Ringed Plovers contain a varying number of 

 Sanderlings. Its actions on the sand are very 

 similar to those of the Ringed Plover, but it 

 does not appear ever to run in such fits and 'starts, 

 searching the ground more systematically, after the 

 manner of a Stint or a Dunlin. During high water 

 the Sanderling very often resorts to the higher 

 shingle, and skulks amongst the pebbles, sometimes 

 remaining unseen until nearly trodden upon, so 

 closely does its white and gray dress resemble the 

 stones among which it nestles. Upon the dark muds 

 and the wet shining brown sands it is much more 

 conspicuous; and there are few prettier sights 

 along the shore than a scattered flock of Sander- 

 lings, standing head towards the observer, looking 

 like so many white balls of animated snow. It 

 searches for its food by running to and fro about 

 the beach, often on the very margin of the spent 

 waves, sometimes wading through the shallows, 

 or quickly dodging the foam-flecked in-driving surf. 

 Its food consists of sand- worms, crustaceans, various 

 insects and great quantities of small molluscs. In 

 summer, however, it is almost exclusively insect- 

 ivorous, but also feeds on the buds of the Arctic 



