126 GRALL^. 



of the feet and the body, hut differing from them in the air 

 and expression of the head, and the structure of the bill, 

 which have, at least, some resemblance to those of the snipes, 

 only the bill is not nearly so long in proportion to the size 

 of the bird. 



The bill is about an inch in length, straight, slender, 

 and flexible throughout its whole length, and without any 

 hardening towards the tip, as is the case with those of the 

 other three land birds of the order. It is compressed late- 

 rally at the base, and depressed or flattened towards the tip, 

 where it ends abruptly, and is rather broad. The nasal 

 channels, bored with the membrane in which the nostrils 

 form longitudinal slits, extend to a considerable length in 

 the bill : the whole organ indicating different food from that 

 of the plovers, while the feet are adapted to haunts nearly 

 similar to those of these birds. 



This compound character, partaking of that of the plovers 

 and also that of the snipes, or rather perhaps the sand-pipers 

 (only the bills of the sand-pipers are slightly curved), renders 

 the sanderling a little perplexing to the systematist. Its 

 walk should be on dry, or, at all events, on firm surfaces, 

 though its feet and toes are more slender than those of the 

 plovers generally, and its tarsi shorter in proportion than 

 those of the Kentish plover. The toes are almost entirely 

 divided, and without membrane. 



The margins of the little pools that are left when the water 

 has ebbed, or the line of the water as it advances or recedes 

 on the beach, are the chief places in which the sanderling 

 seeks its food. In these places, it can stand on the firm 

 surface, and pick up its food in the edge of the waters, espe- 

 cially when the return of the tide brings the smaller soft or 

 naked animals out of the sand. The beaches of pure sand 

 which dry immediately as the water retires, of course admit 

 of a free passage of the water ; and thus as the tide rises, 



