SANDERLING. 
SI 
coast of Australia, and is found on the shores of Lake Baikal 
in Siberia. In the month of May, or as soon as they have 
recovered from the moult of spring, they leave us for the 
north, but are seldom in good order for the table until autumn, 
when, with their broods, they arrive remarkably plump and 
fat, and are then justly esteemed as a delicacy by the epicure. 
Besides the various kinds of insect food already mentioned on 
which they live, they likewise swallow considerable portions of 
sand in order apparently to assist the process of digestion. 
The Sanderling is almost cosmopolitan in its distribution, and is 
usually abundant wherever it occurs. In America it breeds in high 
Arctic regions, and winters in the far South, — some flocks going to 
Chili and Patagonia; and in their migrations the birds follow the 
water-ways of the interior as well as the coast-line. 
A few stragglers have been seen on the New England shores in 
summer, but no nest has been found south of about latitude 55°; 
and Captain F'eilden reports finding a number breeding on the 
shores of the Frozen Ocean, at the extreme northern limit of 
animal life. 
Flemming’s opinion that some of these birds nested in Scotland 
has not been confirmed by recent observers. Even on the Faroe 
Islands the Sanderling occurs as a migrant only; but nests have 
been taken in Iceland. 
These birds are exceedingly active and by no means shy. When 
flushed they fly out to sea, but soon return ; and when a flock is 
fired into, the remnant make no great effort to escape, tliough 
a wounded bird will dive into the surf or swim off on the surface 
of the water. 
The food of the Sanderling while in this region is confined 
chiefly to small bivalves and crustaceans ; but on its breeding- 
ground the bird is more insectivorous, and has been known to eat 
also the buds of plants. 
