goodwill and forbearance which they exhibit, rendering them most agreeable companions. When alarmed,

they fly off in a body, uttering occasionally a shrill ery, move with
In sunshine they may be perceived at a very

great rapidity, now all inclining to

one side, now to the other, and performing various evolutions.
great distance by the glancing of their white under parts. At first they are not shy, and may easily be ap-
proached ; but after being molested they become rather vigilant.
or in their neighbourhood, sometimes by themselves, but often in company with Dunlins and Ringed Plovers.

Individuals are sometimes seen on various parts of our coast

At high water they repose on the sands

Like those birds, they also feed by moonlight.
in summer, but it does not appaer that this species breeds in any part of Britain.”

Mr. Harting informs me that the latest period in spring at w hich he has observed the Sanderling was the
30th of May, on which day be once shot three at Wharton, on the Lancashire coast. They were exceedingly
wild, in twos and threes, as if pairing; and it was some time before he could get near them: they were in

nearly full summer plumage. On examining the contents of the stomach, he found their food had consisted

of small univalves, sandhoppers, and marine insects, mingled with the remains of which were minute particles
of gravel.

Audubon, writing of the bird as seen by him in North America, says, ‘‘ Although the § Sanderling extends
its rambles along our Atlantic shores from the eastern extremities of Maine to the southernmost Key of the
Floridas, it is only an autumnal and winter visitor. It arrives in the more eastern districts about
the first of August, on the shores of New York and New Jersey rarely before the 10th of August,
and seldom reaches the extensive sandbanks of East Florida previous to the month of November.
Along the whole of this extended coast it is more or less abundant, sometimes appearing in bands composed
of a few individuals, and at others in large flocks, but generally 1 mingling with other species of small shore-
birds.

ihe Sean ate obtains its food principally by probing the moist sands of the sea-shores, with its bill
held in an oblique direction. At every step it inserts this instrument with surprising quickness, to a
greater or less depth accor ding to the softness of the sand, sometimes introducing it a quarter of an
inch, at others to the base. The holes thus made may be seen on the borders of beaches when the tide is
fast receding, in rows of twenty, thirty, or more: in certain spots they are less numerous; for it appears that
when a place grows unproductive of the food for which they are searching, they very soon take to their wings
and remove to another, now and then in so hurried a manner that it might be supposed they had been
frightened. The contents of the stomachs of those I shot while thus occupied were 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 running waters, I found in them small shrimps
and other crustacea.

“Tn their flight, which is rapid, and straighter than that of other small species, the Sanderlings do not
perform so many evolutions as Sandpipers generally display. They generally alight about a hundred yards
from the place whence they started, and run for a yard or so with their wings partially extended. ‘They
move on the mud with great activity, so as to keep up with a man walking at a moderate pace.”

The total absence of a hind toe forms a conspicuous feature in the structure of the Sanderling—the more
so as, I believe, this member is not wanting in any other known Sandpiper: the why and the wherefore
of this peculiarity in the structure of its foot has not been ascertained ; but we may rest assured that its
habits differ in some minute particular from those of the Stints. The foot of the Golden Plover is tridactyle,
while the Grey Plover possesses a small hind toe ; here, therefore, a similar difference occurs in the members
of another group of birds, but in an opposite direction, the Grey Plover’s foot being the only species in which
that member exists.

Sufficient has been said respecting the seasonal change of plumage to which the Sanderling is subject ; but I
may mention that the young of the year have the upper surface darker than the old birds, and that a lunate
patch of mottled feathers occupies the sides of the chest.

The Plate represents the bird in three states of plumage—that of summer, of autumn, and of winter, —
the figures being of the natural size.