BIRDS 391 



past two, when the tide flowed, we walked across the sands 

 together, and at a long distance recognised a flock of Sanderlings 

 running actively at the water edge. Other flocks came swing- 

 ing past us, and the birds on the water edge rose and flew to 

 and fro, finally alighting on the sands about 100 yards from the 

 beach. The glass proved that many of them were still in the 

 grey and white plumage of winter. Two other flocks came 

 past, crying ' wick, wick,' as they turned, their aerial movements 

 being neither so sharp nor so angular as those of the Dunlin. 

 Alighting on the sands they commenced running up to the 

 large flock, among which their numbers soon absorbed. These 

 birds feed at the water edge and out on the great sandbanks. 

 At high tide they rest on the sea beach, or fly restlessly to and 

 fro. The presence of the Sanderling is the more grateful 

 because the sands are otherwise sadly bereft of bird life at the 

 end of May. Bar-tailed Godwits in winter dress are still in 

 evidence, it is true, while flocks of Dunlins and Einged Plovers, 

 of Oystercatchers, and even of Curlews, serve to remind us that 

 all birds do not necessarily undertake the duties of family life ; 

 but except for these and a few Gulls, some Sheldrakes, and a 

 late lingering Red-throated Diver, the estuary is enlivened by 

 the presence of very few birds. The Sanderlings all leave by 

 the 12th of June, unless perhaps a few odd birds stay all the 

 summer ; Mr. Nicol once saw two Sanderlings flying in a flock 

 of Dunlins on the 25th of July, but that was of course an ex- 

 ceptional circumstance. Nevertheless, both adults and young 

 birds reappear in their favourite haunts in August and September, 

 though the small numbers which visit us in the latter portion 

 of the year clearly prove that the bulk of the birds which 

 visit us in spring return from the north to their winter quarters 

 by some other route than the Solway Firth. When I wrote 

 of the Sanderling in the Birds of Cumberland, our local 

 experience of this bird was limited to the spring and autumn 

 — indeed we only knew of one individual obtained in winter 

 dress, and that at a distance from the sea. Since then I 

 have frequently met with a few Sanderlings near Beckfoot 

 in winter, while in December 1886 Mr. J. N. Robinson 

 shot a bird out of a large flock on Burgh marsh. But our 



