GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOIVL. 289 



India, Ceylon, and Burma. Further east it is a winter visitor to 

 China, Japan, and the Malay Archipelago, and is found during 

 that season on all the coasts of South America, the Galapagos, 

 the West Indies, and the Bermudas. 



Allied Forms. — None of sufficient propinquity to demand 

 notice. 



Time during which the Sanderling may be taken.— 



August ist to March ist. 



Habits. — A few Sanderlings, probably individuals that have 

 not been breeding, appear on the British coasts at the end of 

 July, but the majority of birds arrive during August and the 

 early days of September. By the middle of the latter month 

 many have passed on towards the south ; by the end of October 

 comparatively few are left, and some of these linger with us 

 throughout the winter. The return migration of the Sanderling 

 commences on our coasts in April, and lasts into May and 

 early June. It is said to be one of the first migrants to arrive 

 in the Arctic regions, even reaching such high latitudes as 

 the extreme north of Siberia by the 4th of June, and Grinnell 

 Land, upwards of eight degrees further north, one day later. 

 That the Sanderling migrates by night there can be little 

 doubt, for I have repeatedly become aware of its arrival in the 

 Wash in autumn by taking as many as half-a-dozen birds from a 

 single flight net as soon as the tide had ebbed, and before sunrise. 

 I do not think they fly very high whilst on passage, for these birds 

 must have struck the net at the half-ebb, when only a part of it was 

 exposed above water. The Sanderling is a gentle, trustful little 

 creature, not only fond of the sandy reaches, but the mud-flats 

 and shores of the creeks and streams in salt marshes, and in the 

 estuaries of rivers. Whilst on passage and in its winter quarters 

 the Sanderling gathers into flocks of varying size, but many pairs 

 frequent the coast by themselves, or attach themselves to parties 

 of other small Waders. I have especially remarked the partiality 

 of this little bird for the company of Ringed Plovers. Here in 

 Devonshire most large bunches of that Plover contain a few Sander- 

 lings during the period of the latter bird's migrations. Its actions 

 on the sand are very similar to those of the Ringed Plover. It 

 does not appear to run in such fits and starts, but steadily searches 



