230 SCAUP DUCK.
forehead. The upper parts in general are brownish-black, the middle of
the back and the scapulars undulated with whitish dots and bars. The
primary quills are greyish in the middle, and the speculum is white, but
of less extent than in the male. The greater part of the breast and abdomen
is white ; the sides and parts under the tail umber brown.
Length 16£ inches, extent of wings 28. Weight 1 lb. 6 oz.
The males, as has been said, vary greatly in size, but in adult specimens
there is little difference in colouring. The birds figured in my Illustrations,
and described above, were from the Mississippi; but others
seen in various parts presented no such differences as to indicate permanent
varieties.
( 231 )
THE SANDERLING.
TRINGA ARENARIA, BONAP.
PLATE C C X X X . MALE AND FEMALE.
ALTHOUGH the Sanderling extends its rambles along our Atlantic
shores, from the eastern extremities of Maine to the southernmost Keys of
the Floridas, it is only an autumnal and winter visitor. It arrives in the
more Eastern Districts about the 1st of August, on the sea-shores of New
York and New Jersey rarely before the 10th of August, and seldom reaches
the extensive sand-banks 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 times
in large flocks, but generally mingling with other species of small shorebirds.
Thus I have seen Turnstones and Knots mixed with the Sanderlings,
but in such cases they are perhaps wanderers, which have not succeeded
in meeting with companions of their own species, that associate
with the birds of which I here speak.
The Sanderling obtains its food principally by probing the moist
sands of the sea-shores with its bill held in an oblique position. At every
step it inserts this instrument with surprising quickness, to a greater or
less depth, according to the softness of the sand, sometimes introducing
it a quarter of an inch, sometimes 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 less numerous; for it
appears that when a place proves 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 one might suppose they had
been suddenly frightened. The contents of the stomach of those which
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 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