288 SANDERLING SANDPIPER. 



slender sea-worms, about an inch in length, together with minute shell-fish 

 and gravel. At other times, when they were seen following the receding 

 waves, and wading up to the belly in the returning waters, I found in them 

 small shrimps and other Crustacea. 



In their flight the Sanderlings do not perform so many evolutions as 

 Sandpipers usually display. They generally alight about a hundred yards 

 off the place from which they started, and run for a yard or so, keeping their 

 wings partially extended. They move on the sand with great activity, 

 running so as to keep pace with a man walking at a moderate rate. Their 

 flight is rapid and straighter than that of other small species, and when on 

 wing they seldom exhibit each surface of the body alternately, as many 

 others are wont to do. 



I have thought that the migrations of this bird are carried on under night; 

 but of this I am by no means certain, although I observed some small flocks, 

 composed of a few dozen individuals, crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at 

 a little height over the water, in the month of June. The lateness of the 

 season induced me to hope that I might find some nests of the Sanderling on 

 the coast of Labrador; but in this I was disappointed, although some young 

 birds were seen at Bras d'Or, in little parties of four or five individuals. 

 This was early in August, and they were already on their way southward. 



The Sanderling affords good eating, especially the young, and the sports- 

 man may occasionally kill six or seven at a shot, provided he fires the 

 moment the flock has alighted, for immediately after the birds spread abroad 

 in search of food. 



The female may easily be distinguished from the male, by her superior 

 size; but in the colouring of birds of both sexes, I have observed as much 

 difference as in the Turnstone. Even during winter, some are more or less 

 marked with black and brownish-red, while others, which, however, I easily 

 ascertained to be younger birds, were of an almost uniform light grey above, 

 each feather edged with dull white; but in all those which I have examined, 

 whether old birds in the full spring or summer dress, in which I have shot 

 some in May, in the Middle Districts, or young birds in autumn and during 

 winter, I have seen no difference in the colours of the bill, legs and toes. 



Ruddy Plover, Charadrius rubidus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 129. Summer. 

 Sanderling Plover, Charadrius Calidris, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 68. Winter. 

 Calidris arenaria, Sanderling, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 366. 

 Sanderling Plover, Calidris arenaria, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 4. 

 Sanderling, Tringa arenaria, And. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 231; vol. v. p. 582. 



Male, 7|f, \2\. 



From Texas along the coast to Maine in autumn and spring, extremely 

 abundant. Breeds from lat. 55° northward. 



