SANDERLING. 



RUDDY PLOVER. BEACH-BIRD. 

 Calidris ARENARIA. 



Char. No hind toe; bill somewhat similar to a Plover. In summer: 

 above, mottled rufous and blackish brown, most of the feathers tipped 

 with grayish white; head and neck pale chestnut spotted with brown; 

 wing-coverts tipped with white ; outer tail-feathers white ; lower parts 

 white. In winter the rufous tints are replaced by pearl gray, and the 

 spring plumage displays a mixture of the two. In young birds the head, 

 neck, and back are tinged with buff. Length about 8 inches. 



Nest. Under a bush or amid a tuft of weeds; a depression lined with 

 dry grass. 



Eggs. 2-4; greenish buff or brownish olive, spotted chiefly around the 

 iarger'end with brown; 1.40 X 0.95. 



The Sanderlings, in accumulating flocks, arrive on the shores 

 of Massachusetts from their remote northern breeding-places 

 towards the close of August. They are seen also about the 

 same time on the coast of New Jersey and still farther to the 

 South, where they remaiti throughout the greater part of 

 the winter, gleaiiing their subsistence exclusively along the 

 immediate borders of the ocean, and are particularly attached 

 to sandy flats and low, sterile, solitary coasts divested of vege- 

 VOL. II. — 4 



