232 SANDERLING.
yards of 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
sportsman 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. My plate of this species represents
two birds in winter plumage, which were obtained in East Florida in the
month of December. The figure of a fine male, which, being on another
sheet of paper, was overlooked during my absence from Xondon, you
will find in Plate CCLXXXV. of " The Birds of America.1'
SANDERLING. 233
CHARADRIUS CALIDRIS, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 255—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii.
p. 741, in Winter.
CHARADRIUS RUBIDUS, Ibid. p. 740, in Summer.
TRINGA ARENARIA, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 320.
CALIDRIS ARENARIA, SANDERLING, Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii.
p. 366.
RUDDY PLOVER, CHARADRIUS RUBIDUS, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 129. pL 63.
fig. 3—Summer dress.
SANDERLING PLOVER, Ibidem, voL vii. p. 68. pi. 59. fig. 4. Winter dress—Nuttall,
Manual, voL ii. p. 4.
Adult Male in winter. Plate CCXXX. Fig. 1.
Bill rather longer than the head, slender, subcylindrical, straight,
flexible, compressed at the base, the point rather depressed and obtuse.
Upper mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight, slightly sloping to
beyond the middle, the ridge convex, towards the end flattened, at the
point convex ; sides sloping, edges rather blunt and soft. Nasal groove
long; nostrils basal, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle
long and very narrow, the dorsal line slightly convex, the sides sloping
outwards, towards the end convex.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Eyes rather large.
Neck of moderate length. Body rather slender. Feet slender, of moderate
length ; tibia bare a considerably way up; tarsus compressed, anteriorly
and posteriorly with numerous small scutella; hind toe wanting;
toes of moderate length, slender; inner toe shorter than outer, middle toe
considerably longer, all scutellate above and marginate, with prominent
papilla?, and free; claws small, slightly curved, extremely compressed,
blunt.
Plumage very soft, blended beneath, slightly distinct above. Wings
long and pointed; primaries tapering, obtuse, the first longest, the second
a little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated ; secondaries rather short,
obliquely rounded, curved inwards, the inner elongated and tapering.
Tail rather short, rounded, of twelve feathers, the two middle ones considerably
longer.
Bill and feet black. Iris brown. The general colour of the plumage
above is ash-grey, the edges paler; the lower parts pure white. Alula
and primaries brownish-black, the latter with more or less white on their
outer webs or along the shaft; secondaries white, the outer with a patch