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CHARADRIID.E. 



Sociability among its fellows is also one of its good 

 qualities, for whether the party consists of few or many, 

 they always keep together, either during their migration, or 

 their stay in a place, and when they are forcibly separated 

 they unite again and again in the air. In Holland, where 

 the Sanderling appears in such numbers, the flocks of them 

 amount frequently to many hundred individuals, thus 

 literally covering the ground where they alight to some 

 extent. When a few only are assembled, they generally 

 attach themselves to some flight of other birds of their 

 size and habits, and even follow them wherever they go. 



The call-note of this little bird sounds like the word 

 pit, pit ! it is uttered in a high but very soft tone, and 

 therefore not heard at a distance. 



In confinement there cannot be a more pleasing and tame 

 bird than the present species, and it is therefore easily 

 kept. 



The food of the Sanderling consists in small worms, 

 marine insects, small Crustacea and the larvae of insects, 

 which it obtains by probing with its beak in the sand imme- 

 diately after the waves have receded, and also from among the 

 pebbles which retain the substances that are washed up by 

 the last waves. 



As food for the table, the Sanderling is very good, 

 and in most cases the bird is not only in good condition, 

 but covered with fat to an incredible degree. 



The reproduction of this species is believed to take place 

 in the most northern latitudes to which it penetrates, but 

 up to the present time nothing more is known on the 

 subject, although several naturalists have tried in vain to 

 find the nest and eggs. 



Before we enter on describing the Sanderling's plumage, 

 it is not out of place to remark how much the writers 



