The PIGMY CURLEW SANDPIPER (_Limicola pygmæa_) has the crown blackish brown, decorated with reddish yellow stripes; the mantle-feathers are black lined with reddish yellow; the upper wing is ash-grey; the feathers on the lower throat, crop, and sides of the breast are reddish yellow, spotted with brown and tipped with white; the under side is white. The eye is brown, the beak reddish grey at its base and black at its extremity, and the foot dark greenish grey. During the autumn the upper parts of the body are dark grey, and the feathers have a somewhat mottled appearance, as their shafts are of a dark and their edges of a light shade. This bird is six inches long and thirteen broad, the wing measures four inches and one-third, and the tail one inch and a half. The Pigmy Curlew is met with principally in the northern parts of Asia and America, and also, though more rarely, in Europe. In England it has been known to breed occasionally. Moist river-banks or marshy localities are the situations it prefers, and from these it obtains the insects, larvæ, and worms upon which it principally subsists. Unlike the rest of the family, it does not associate with other birds. The Pigmy Curlew flies well and rapidly, walks with short interrupted steps, and, if disturbed, crouches flat to the ground, and allows the enemy to approach quite close before taking wing. The voice resembles that of the Common Sandpiper. Keitel tells us that in its habits this species does not differ from the rest of the family. The eggs found by that gentleman in Lapland were long and pear-shaped, with a dull olive-yellow shell, marked with greyish brown. THE SANDERLING. The SANDERLING (_Calidris arenaria_) has the hinder toe entirely undeveloped. This small bird is only seven inches long and fifteen broad. In spring the upper parts of the body are black, or brownish red, spotted with yellow and white; the blackish brown upper wing is marked with zigzag rust-red spots, and striped with white. The under side, as far as the white breast, is reddish grey, the feathers having dark spots on the shafts and white edges. The five outer tail-feathers are whitish grey, with white roots; the eyes are deep brown; the beak and the foot deep grey. During winter the feathers on the upper portions of the body are light grey tipped with white, darkly spotted on the shafts, and the under side is pure white. [Illustration: THE SANDERLING (_Calidris arenaria_).]