232 SANDERLING. 



yards of the place from which they started, and run for a yard or so, 

 keeping their wings partially extended. They move on the sand with 

 great activity, running so as to keep pace with a man walking at a mode- 

 rate rate. Their flight is rapid and straighter than that of other small 

 species, and when on wing they seldom exhibit each surface of the body 

 alternately, as many others are wont to do. 



I have thought that the migrations of this bird are carried on under 

 night ; but of tliis I am by no means certain, although I observed some 

 small flocks, composed of a few dozen individuals, crossing the Gulf of 

 St Lawrence, at a little height over the water, in the month of June. 

 The lateness of the season induced me to hope that I might find some 

 nests of the Sanderling on the coast of Labrador ; but in this I was dis- 

 appointed, although some young birds were seen at Bras d'Or, in little 

 parties of four or five individuals. This was early in August, and they 

 were already on their way southward. 



The Sanderling affords good eating, especially the young, and the 

 sportsman may occasionally kill six or seven at a shot, provided he fires 

 the moment the flock has alighted, for immediately after the birds spread 

 abroad in search of food. 



The female may easily be distinguished from the male, by her su- 

 perior size ; but in the colouring of birds of both sexes, I have observed 

 as much difference as in the Turnstone. Even during winter, some are 

 more or less marked with black and brownish-red, while others, which, 

 however, I easily ascertained to be younger birds, were of an almost uni- 

 form light grey above, each feather edged with dull white ; but in all 

 those which I have examined, whether old birds in the full spring or sum- 

 mer dress, in which I have shot some in May, in the Middle Districts, or 

 young birds in autumn and during winter, I have seen no difference in 

 the colours of the bill, legs, and toes. My plate of this species represents 

 two birds in winter plumage, which were obtained in East Florida in the 

 month of December. The figure of a fine male, Avhich, being on another 

 sheet of paper, was overlooked during my absence from London, you 

 iviU find in Plate CCLXXXV. of " The Birds of America." 



