106 



6 



former gentleman, it is common, visiting Kultuk about the middle of August, and remaining till 

 the middle of September. 



Mr. Swinhoe records it as a winter visitant to China, where he met with it at Amoy and 

 Hainan ; it has also been obtained at Hakodadi, in Japan ; and, according to Professor Schlegel, 

 there are examples in the Leiden Museum from Java ; but it does not appear to have occurred 

 as far south as Australia or New Zealand, as is the case with the Knot. 



In the Nearctic Region the present species has a tolerably wide range ; and I am indebted to 

 Dr. Elliott Coues for the following notes respecting its range on that continent : — " The Sanderling 

 is a very abundant bird during migration along the south coast of North America. In the interior 

 of the United States I am not personally informed of its occurrence, though I should not be sur- 

 prised if, like most other littoral species, it were to be found on the great lakes or other large 

 inland waters. It is enumerated by Dr. J. M. Wheaton among the birds of Ohio, but marked 

 as one of the stragglers ; and certainly few species, if any, are more decidedly characteristic of the 

 sea-coast. Along the shores of the Atlantic I have traced it from New England to the Carolinas ; 

 and I found it wintering on the coast of California. But it pushes much further south than this. 

 Cabanis records it from Cuba (J. f. O. iv. p. 422), Cassin from Carthagena (P. Phil. Acad. 1860, 

 p. 195), Laurence from Yucatan (Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 120), Sclater & Salvin from Peru (P. Z. S. 

 1868, p. 176), Pelzeln from Brazil (Orn. Bras. p. 312), and Philippi from Chili (Cat. p. 36). The 

 southerly quotations appear to all refer to the winter resorts of the species, which are thus seen 

 to be very extensive — the more so when we consider that at the same season the birds are also 

 found on the beaches at least as far north as New Hampshire, and probably further. In North 

 Carolina, where my observations on this species were more protracted than elsewhere, I found it 

 present in abundance the whole year, excepting the three summer months. The greater number 

 pass north early in May ; but some linger until June ; the later birds come into nearly perfect 

 breeding-dress before they leave. All through May the birds are scarcely to be observed in the 

 large dense flocks in which they go in winter, having already broken up this association and 

 entered upon their preliminary courtships. A few return from the north late in August, but the 

 majority not until October. In Labrador I did not find the bird at all, as it does not breed 

 there, and as my departure (early in September) was before the migration had. become fairly 

 established — though I am satisfied that, during the last few days of my stay in the country, birds 

 might have been observed. We have advices of its occurrence the entire length of our Pacific 

 coast, from Cape St. Lucas to Alaska, among the Aleutians, and at the Prybilov Islands. Of its 

 breeding-resorts I have nothing particularly to the point to offer, being only informed, in a 

 general way, that it proceeds to the very farthest north to breed. It was one of the few 

 species found breeding by the ' Polaris ' expedition, specimens in down having been procured by 

 Dr. Bessels, naturalist of that exploration." To this I may add that Dr. Gundlach records it 

 from Cuba, where he obtained it in September ; and it is occasionally met with between September 

 and November on the Bermudas. 



Like the Knot and Grey Plover, the Sanderling is only a visitant to our shores, at all seasons 

 except during the breeding-time ; for it never remains with us to rear its young. Sometimes a 

 few individuals remain on our coasts until late in the spring, when they have donned the full 

 summer dress ; and I possess examples in all stages of plumage from the winter to the summer 



