During winter the Sanderling is a great wanderer, visiting parts of Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, and South America, but in the breeding season its range seems confined to the Arctic regions. But very little is known of the nesting habits of the Sanderling, and few of its eggs are in collections. It is said to arrive at its Arctic haunts in May or early June, as soon as the water is free from ice, and the ground bare of snow. Its nesting haunts are the barren grounds and tundras near, and the beaches of, the Arctic Ocean. The nest is a mere hollow, scantily lined with dry grass and leaves, and the four eggs are buffish-olive in ground colour, mottled and spotted with pale olive-brown and gray.
KNOT
This species, the Tringa canutus of Linnæus, and most modern ornithologists, is another of the Arctic migrants that pass the British coasts regularly on their journeys, and linger here in much smaller numbers over the winter. Camden, in 1607, appears to have been the first author to connect the name of the Knot with King Canute, but much difference of opinion exists as to the reason thereof. Some authorities assert that it was in connection with the story of that king upon the seashore; others, and perhaps with greater reason, because of the Royal Dane’s great liking for its flesh. The bird continued to be so closely associated with the king by successive writers, that Linnæus followed them in applying the specific name of canutus to the Knot, which is still retained by the majority of naturalists.
The migrations of the Knot are very marked and regular. The bird begins to arrive on the British coasts early in August, and from then to the end of October a nearly constant stream pours upon them, reaching its greatest volume in September. By far the greater number pass on to still more southern haunts, but a sufficiently large portion remain to winter as to render the species one of the most familiar of Limicoline forms to habitues of the coast. The return migration begins on our coasts in April, and continues throughout May. The principal haunts of the Knot in the British Islands are situated on the eastern and south-eastern coasts. Mud-flats, salt-marshes, wide, expansive sands, and big estuaries, are the spots where Knots most do congregate, for these furnish it with a constant supply of food. Ten years ago, I remember, great numbers of Knots used to be caught in the flight-nets on the Wash, during October and November, but the numbers of late years have considerably decreased. The Knot is not only very gregarious, but social, and often mixes with companies of other waders. When feeding Knots keep close together, generally all heading in the same direction, and moving about quickly. If the flock is a very large one some of the individuals are almost constantly in the air, flying over the heads of their companions, and alighting again, as if eager to get the first look over the ground. They are very wary when congregated in such large assemblies, easily flushed, and often performing various evolutions, both over the sands or the water, before alighting again. The Knot more often runs with a series of short, quick steps than walks, and it flies both rapidly and well. After feeding, the entire flock will often stand for a long time on a certain piece of the shore, sleeping and preening plumage, but even on these occasions they are somewhat restless, and it is rare to see all still at once. They feed both by night and by day. The call-note is seldom or never uttered, although when on migration the birds appear to be noisy enough, crying incessantly to each other as they fly along in the gloom.
But little is known of the nesting economy of the Knot. Its great breeding grounds – the nesting places of the vast flocks that pass southwards in autumn – still remain undiscovered. Where they are situated it is useless to speculate. Naturalists are ignorant of its eggs, which still remain unknown in collections, although the young in down have been obtained. The Knot breeds in the high Arctic regions, in the North Polar Basin, mostly, if not entirely above lat. 80°; and here it has been met with during summer by various travellers. The Knot is another bird remarkable for the great seasonal changes which its plumage undergoes. In winter, the plumage is ash-gray above, white below; in summer, the feathers of the upper parts become black margined with reddish-brown and mixed with white, those of the lower parts rich bay or chestnut. It has been remarked that the birds that winter on our coasts do not assume such rich tints in summer as individuals that pass along our coasts from more southern latitudes. This is probably because the birds wintering with us are younger individuals, only the oldest penetrating to the remoter winter home. The Knot has a wide distribution during winter, including the Southern States, and Mexico, Africa, and it is said Australia, and New Zealand! It is possible that in the latter countries the Eastern Knot – the Tringa crassirostris of science – is confused with the present species.
CURLEW SANDPIPER
This pretty little species, known to many as the “Pygmy Curlew,” and to modern naturalists by the scientific name of Tringa subarquata, is one of the rarest of the British Limicolæ. It very closely resembles the Knot in the colour of its plumage, and in the seasonal changes that plumage undergoes, but it is not much more than three-fourths the size, and has a curved Curlew-like bill. This little Sandpiper, like most of its order, is a migrant, breeding in some yet undiscovered part of the Arctic regions, retiring southwards to winter in Africa, various parts of southern Asia and in Australia. It is during these journeys between the Arctic regions and the tropics that it occurs on the British coasts, a few individuals even remaining upon them all the winter through. As might naturally be expected it is most frequently observed on the vast stretches of low coast on the eastern side of England; it is also a tolerably frequent visitor to the south coast, even as far westwards as Devon and Cornwall. A few Curlew Sandpipers arrive on our coasts in April, but the greater number pass along them in May, stragglers lingering until June. The return flight is noticed in August, and consists mostly of young birds, the older ones reaching us during September and October. The habits of this Sandpiper very closely resemble those of the Dunlin, in whose company the bird is very frequently found, and from which it may readily be distinguished, even at a distance, by its pure white upper tail-coverts. It prefers coasts of a muddy rather than a sandy character, haunting saltings, estuaries, and muds. Here, its actions are much the same as those of all these little sand birds; it feeds both by day and night; and often retires during high water to some wet land near the sea, to wait the ebb. The food of this species consists of crustaceans, worms, molluscs, and insects. Its note is described as being louder than that of the Dunlin.
Absolutely nothing is known of the nidification of the Curlew Sandpiper, and its egg has never yet been described. It is, to say the least, remarkable that some of the great breeding-places of these Arctic birds have not yet been discovered – a fact that seems to suggest a vast area of land somewhere in the vicinity of the Pole.
DUNLIN
Owing to the great seasonal changes of plumage which this Sandpiper – the Tringa alpina of most naturalists – undergoes, considerable confusion has prevailed concerning it. Linnæus described birds of this species in summer plumage as distinct from individuals in winter plumage, naming them alpina and cinclus; but Temminck (and before him B. Meyer) with greater discernment united both under the name of T. variabilis. Birds in the two plumages have also received distinctive colloquial names; in summer dress, the bird is known as “Dunlin,” in winter dress as the “Purre.” Other local names of wide application to this species are “Ox-bird,” “Stint,” and “Plover’s Page,” the latter being derived from the habit of the Dunlin to accompany a Golden Plover, flying to and fro over the moors, where the two species chance to be nesting. Perhaps the Wryneck has in like manner, gained the name of “Cuckoo’s Mate” from its habit of flying in attendance with that bird; although some writers attribute the term to the fact of the two species appearing in our country about the same time.
The Dunlin is absolutely the commonest Limicoline bird of the shore, and certainly the most widely dispersed. It possesses the habit, in common with so many other species of this order, of retiring to moors to breed; but as soon as nesting duties are done it returns to the coast, and for the remainder of the year continues to reside upon it. The Dunlins that breed in our islands represent but a very small portion of the vast number that winter on the British coasts. The majority of these are from more northern haunts, winter migrants, that haste away again with the return of spring. During its residence on the coast the Dunlin is remarkably gregarious, assembling often in flocks of thousands, which, by preference seek such portions of the shore as are low-lying and muddy. Salt-marshes, slob-lands, estuaries and creeks, and vast expanses of mud – as the Wash for instance, are the favourite haunts of the Dunlin. These large flocks of Dunlins are much more difficult to approach than smaller gatherings or individual birds. Dunlins are active little birds, almost incessantly in motion, running daintily about the muds, by the margin of the waves, or wading through the shallow tide pools. During the course of feeding a large flock will become widely scattered, and it is remarkable how quickly the broken ranks reform. There are few sights so pretty along the salt-marshes and mud-flats than a large flock of Dunlins, in the act of performing those graceful aerial movements so characteristic of this little bird during its winter sojourn upon the coast. The whole flock, as with a single impulse, will spread out like a net, close up again, apparently vanish, appear black, or like a flash of silver, just as the birds turn and expose their dark or white plumage to the light. Sometimes the flock will head straight away down the coast, passing the observer with a rush and whirr of wings, and a chorus of purring cries; at other times a large flock will rise en masse from the muds, pass out to sea a little way, turn, and go some distance along the shore, come back again, repeating the movement time after time, ever and anon appearing as though about to alight, dipping and rising with marvellous regularity. No doubt these movements will recall to the observer the gyrations of the autumn flocks of Starlings, for there is much in common between the two. During its sojourn upon the coast the Dunlin feeds upon crustaceans, sand-worms, molluscs, and other small marine organisms; but in summer insects, grubs, worms, and ground-fruits are eaten. The usual note of the Dunlin is harsh, and resembles the word purr – hence one of the bird’s trivial names; during the breeding season it is a long drawn peezh. In the pairing season, when the male indulges in certain aerial gambols, he utters a trill, which has been likened by some observers to the continuous ringing of a small bell.
It is a rather remarkable fact that the Dunlin is the only species of Tringa that nests in the British Islands. It breeds sparingly and locally in Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, perhaps in Wales, and thence northwards, more generally, over the remainder of England, and in Scotland up to the Shetlands. Dunlins begin to move from the coasts in March and April, and to resort to their breeding places, which are situated on the marshy moorlands and mountain swamps, often at no great distance from the sea, or at least from tidal waters. The nest is a mere depression, often in a tussock of grass or rushes, or beneath a small bush, or even in a patch of thrift on bare sandy soil, lined with a few scraps of withered vegetation, or enclosed with a few twigs or roots. The four pyriform eggs are pale olive or pale brown, blotched and spotted with reddish- and blackish-brown and gray. We remark the same extraordinary difference between summer and winter plumage, as we have already observed in the Knot and some others. In summer or breeding plumage, the Dunlin is rich reddish-brown above, striped with dark brown; lower breast or gorget, deep black; remainder of under parts white. In winter the upper parts are chiefly ash-gray, and the under parts white, except the gorget, which is now grayish-brown. Outside the British Islands the Dunlin has a very wide distribution, breeding not only in the Arctic regions of both hemispheres, but in many temperate latitudes of the same; in winter it is dispersed over North Africa, Southern Asia, the Southern States of America, and the West Indies. At Heligoland, flocks of Dunlins invariably indicate bad weather.
PURPLE SANDPIPER
This species, the Tringa maritima of Brunnich and most modern naturalists, but erroneously identified with the T. striata of Linnæus, by certain recent writers on ornithology, is a fairly common and widely distributed bird on the British coasts during autumn and winter. The fact that a few odd birds are sometimes met with on our shores during the summer, has led to the supposition – totally unsubstantiated as yet – that the Purple Sandpiper may breed here. During some years this species is much more abundant than others, a fact perhaps due to exceptionally favourable breeding seasons. The Purple Sandpiper, readily distinguished from all other British Limicolæ by its nearly black rump and upper tail coverts, the purple gloss of its upper plumage, and its yellow legs – makes its appearance with us early in September, and continues to arrive in increasing numbers during that month and October, and leaves us by the following May. This Sandpiper is most partial to a rocky coast, where the huge boulders shelve down into the water, and large masses of rock and shingle are exposed at low tide. It may, however, be frequently observed in the company of Knots, Dunlins, and Ringed Plovers, on the mud-flats and sandy reaches. It usually seeks for its food close to the water, running over the rocks as each great wave breaks and retires, even darting into the seething drifts of surf, or coursing along the very edge of the rollers, where each one threatens to annihilate it as it breaks upon the shore. Occasionally it may be seen to swim just outside the surf, and when flushed it sometimes even alights upon the sea. Its food consists of crustaceans, sand-worms, molluscs, and insects; and, during summer, of seeds as well. Although most of this food is obtained whilst the tide is driving in, the bird may be seen in quest of it at the ebb. It frequently retires inland a little way, or rests upon a rocky islet or point, between the ebb and the flow of the tide. Its flight is rapid and straightforward, and often accompanied by its shrill and quickly uttered tee-wit. The Purple Sandpiper, though social, is never seen on our coasts in very large flocks, and, perhaps, most frequently in pairs or alone. In Norway, however, Collett states that it assembles in countless flocks during the winter. It is certainly one of the least shy of the Limicolæ, and often permits of a close approach, especially when alone.
The best known breeding-place of the Purple Sandpiper, and one of its most southerly summer stations, is on the Faröes. Other breeding places are in Iceland, in Norway, Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla, and on various parts of the north Siberian coasts, and in Arctic America to Greenland.
It arrives at its nesting grounds in May or June. These are rarely situated far from the sea, although in the Faröes it retires to the fells, where it begins to nest even before the snow has all melted. The nest is but a shallow depression, scantily lined with scraps of withered vegetation, and is made either close to the beach on broken ground, covered with a sparse vegetation, or in some marshy spot on a hill in the vicinity of the ocean. The Purple Sandpiper may pair for life, as there is some evidence to show that it returns annually to certain spots, to breed. The four eggs are pale olive- or buffish-brown, beautifully blotched and spotted, mottled and streaked with blackish- and reddish-brown and gray. The sitting bird lingers long upon her nest, sometimes remaining till almost trodden upon before she starts up, and, by feigning lameness, seeks to draw the intruder away. So closely is the Purple Sandpiper attached to the coast, that even during the nesting season, when its duties call it more or less inland, it always visits the shore to feed. In summer plumage, the upper parts are marked with rich chestnut, and in winter dress, the underparts are more spotted.
There are certain other Limicoline birds found upon our coasts, more or less frequently, which at least deserve some passing notice; but as they are species that are merely fleeting visitors during their annual migrations, and never occur in sufficient number to form a dominant feature in the bird-life of the shore, they do not call for any lengthened description, or minute study, in a work which seeks only to sketch the more enduring avine characteristics of the British seaboard. We will deal with the commonest species first. During the period of its migrations, the Common Sandpiper, or Summer Snipe (Totanus hypoleucus) is a pretty frequent visitor to the coast, especially in the south-western parts of England; and there is strong reason to believe that a limited number may pass the winter thereon. Its habits on the shore are very similar to those of the other Limicoline species. It breeds commonly by the side of our inland waters, and is certainly, as its name implies, the most abundant and the most widely dispersed of the British waders. Another fairly regular and frequent visitor to the British littoral in spring and autumn is the Greenshank (Totanus glottis). It is most often met with on the low-lying eastern coasts; but it is said a few birds winter in Ireland. The Greenshank breeds very locally in Scotland, and is best known to us at its more or less inland nesting stations. It may be distinguished by its white lower back and central upper tail coverts, and nearly uniform gray secondaries. Of even rarer and more local appearance is the Wood Sandpiper (Totanus glareola), sometimes met with in small parties on our eastern and southern coasts; whilst the Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus) is a less frequent visitor still. This species is remarkable for its peculiar mode of nesting, for instead of laying its eggs upon the ground – as is the almost universal custom of birds of this order – it places them in the deserted nests of other birds in trees. We must also not forget to give a passing reference to the singular-looking Ruff (Machetes pugnax). Drainage of the fens has long banished the Ruff from its ancestral haunts, where it was once so common that a regular trade was carried on in netting and fattening it for the table. The Ruff takes it name from the singular, yet remarkably beautiful, frill of elongated feathers that, during the love season, adorns the neck of the male bird. The extraordinary variation in the colour of this fleeting sexual ornament can only be described as marvellous, it being almost impossible to find two birds exactly alike. This sexual development of feather ornament seems closely associated with the polygamous habits of the Ruff; the cock bird takes no share in family duties, and during the pairing season wages endless battles with his rivals for the possession of the hens. Odd birds frequent our coasts during the migration periods, and less frequently during the winter. Two species of Stint – the most diminutive of the Sandpipers – also deserve a brief allusion. The first and most frequent visitor is the Little Stint (Tringa minuta), most numerous on its autumn passage south. It is chiefly seen on the eastern coast-line, but is a visitor to the Solway district. The Little Stint breeds in the Arctic regions of Europe and West Siberia, and is a late migrant in spring, seldom seen in any numbers on our coasts before May. It frequents, whilst with us, mud-flats, salt-marshes, and long reaches of sand, and often joins the Dunlins in quest of food. Its stay with us is brief, especially in spring, and even in autumn most have gone away before October. It may be distinguished by its small size (wing under 4 inches in length), tapering bill, and black legs and feet. The second species, Temminck’s Stint (Tringa temmincki), is a larger bird than the foregoing, and readily distinguished from all other Tringæ by its white outer tail feathers. It is much rarer in its appearance, too, and, as usual, most frequent on the low-lying eastern coast-line; even this district is beyond the more general limits of its migrations. It is also not so maritime in its haunts, and seems to migrate along more inland routes.