116 WADIDG BIRDS. 



fining its visits principally to the rocky and shelving sea 

 coasts, where it obtains in more abundance, the minute 

 Crustacea, molusca, and the fry of shell-fish, which adhere 

 commonly to the sea weeds or Fuci in such situations ; and 

 so peculiar is this habit, that in Holland, where they are 

 now common, they have only appeared with the existence 

 and advancement of the artificial moles which have been 

 built. In Norway, along the rocky shores of the Baltic, 

 and on similar coasts of the Mediterranean, in the west 

 of England, and around Hudson's Bay, they are common. 

 In Russia, Siberia, and Iceland, they are also found, but 

 less frequent. In other parts of America they are scarcely 

 ever seen. Leaving the inclement coasts of their nativity, 

 they proceed probably by Greenland, and migrate directly 

 to the rocky coasts of Norway, and in the course of the 

 winter visit, for a while, the colder parts of Europe. Ac- 

 cording to Dr. Richardson, they breed abundantly on the 

 shores of Hudson's Bay, as well as in that coldest and most 

 desolate of boreal climates, Melville Peninsula; laying the 

 usual number of eggs, which are of a pyriform figure 16^ 

 lines long, and an inch across at the larger end. They are 

 yellowish-grey, interspersed with small irregular spots of 

 pale hair-brown, more abundant at the larger end, and rare 

 at the other. It is seldom seen inland, or on the borders of 

 rivers, where its appearance is accidental ; its piping note is 

 very similar to that of other species ; is not shy, often 

 caught in snares, and the flesh accounted palatable. 



Length of the Purple Sandpiper 8 inches or upwards. In the 

 winter plumage the top of the head, cheeks, and the sides and fore 

 part of the neck, blackish-grey. Throat, space around the eye, and 

 a small spot between the eye and bill, whitish-ash ; breast grey, the 

 feathers terminated with white crescents. Back and scapulars vio- 

 let black with purple reflections, the feathers tipped with dark 

 ash. Wing coverts blackish, edged with pale ash. Lower parts 

 white, the flanks, however, marked with large spots of dark ash, and 



