394 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFOBNIA 



evidently for the purpose of drying their feathers" (Torrey, 1913, 

 p. 24). "When wounded, or otherwise forced to the water for safety, 

 Sanderlings are said to be able to swim quite well. 



Isolated individuals or small groups of this species, as in the 

 ease of many other small shore birds, have been seen (Torrey, 1913, 

 pp. 27, 28) to band together with individuals or flocks of other small 

 species. The Sanderling is sometimes found about larger inland 

 bodies of water in the East, but as yet in California has been noted 

 inland only at Salton Sea. The extensive collecting carried on by 

 R. H. Beck at Los Banos, Merced County, for the Museum of Verte- 

 brate Zoology, failed to indicate the presence of this species at that 

 paradise for water birds. 



The nesting season of the Sanderling extends from late June to 

 the middle of July. A nest found by MacFarlane (1891, p. 427) 

 June 29, 1863, on the Barren Grounds about ten miles west of Frank- 

 lin Bay, Arctic America, consisted of a small depression in the 

 ground lined with "withered hay and leaves" and contained four 

 fresh eggs. Feilden (1877, p. 406) records a nest found by him in 

 Grinnell Land, June 24, 1876, which was located on a gravel ridge 

 several hundred feet above the sea. "... The [two] eggs were 

 deposited in a slight depression in the centre of a recumbent plant of 

 arctic willow, the lining of the nest consisting of a few withered 

 leaves and some of the last year's catkins." The eggs are usually 

 four in number, pear-shaped, and measure in inches 1.30 to 1.50 by 

 0.95 to 1.03, averaging 1.41 by 0.98 (fifteen eggs from Arctic coast 

 of Siberia) (Dresser, 1904, p. 230-231). The set of eggs taken by 

 MacFarlane has been described as follows: "Their ground-color is 

 a brownish olive, marked with faint spots and small blotches of bistre. 

 These markings are very generally diffused, but are a little more 

 numerous about the larger end" (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 1884, 

 1, p. 253). 



The nesting habits of the Sanderling have been reported in an 

 interesting manner by Manniche (1910, pp. 139-151) who observed 

 the species in northeastern Greenland during the summer seasons of 

 1907 and 1908. The bird arrives in this region about the first of 

 June, and by the middle of the month pairing has commenced. In 

 fine weather, especially toward evening, the male would mount to a 

 height of about two yards above the surface of the ground, and, utter- 

 ing a "snarling or slightly neighing sound," fly a short distance or 

 in small circles for several seconds. When excited he would fre- 

 quently sit on the top of a large solitary boulder, with the feathers 

 of his back blown out, his tail spread and his wings half let down. 

 Soon, however, he would return to the female and try to pair with 

 her. Sometimes the male goes through the pairing flight when there 

 is no female in the vicinity. 



