PURPLE SANDPIPER. 201 



The following note, which I extract from a journal kept in 

 1818, contains in brief phraseology, all that I then knew of 

 it as a Hebridian : — " This is one of the tamest birds with 

 which I am acquainted (rather one of the most unobservant 

 of man), allowing a person to approach within five or even 

 four paces. Mr. Norman Macneil says he has seen them 

 killed with a tangle (that is by throwing at them a piece of 

 the stem of Fucus digitatus). It does not appear that they 

 are numerous here. I have seen them at Northtown, Ensay, 

 and Pabbay, at times in flocks, at other times one by one. 

 They pick up their food quite close to the wave ; hence while 

 searching for it they are in continual motion, running out as 

 the wave retires, and retreating as it advances. I have never 

 seen them on sand." The individuals described above were 

 shot near Aberdeen on the 14-th February, 1817. It also 

 occurs along the Firth of Forth. On the 20th of May, 1831, 

 I saw an individual on the Bass Rock ; but neither on the 

 east coast of Scotland, nor in the Hebrides have I met with 

 any at a later period in the summer. 



These birds appear on our coasts in small flocks, about 

 the middle of October, and remain until the end of Spring. 

 They fly in curves, sweeping over the sea when removing 

 from one place to another, and now and then emitting a faint 

 shrill cry, in the manner of the Dunlins, which they also 

 closely resemble in their mode of walking or rather running 

 along the shore, where they search the rocks and fuci for 

 small testaceous mollusca, crabs, and onisci. No instance of 

 their breeding in this country has yet been recorded. Dr. 

 Richardson states that it is common on the shores of Hud- 

 son's Bay, where it breeds. The eggs are " pyriform, sixteen 

 lines and a half long, and an inch across at their greatest 

 breadth. Their colour is yellowish-grey, interspersed with 

 small irregular spots of pale brown, crowded at the obtuse 

 end, and rare at the other." 



Young. — The young when fully fledged resemble the 

 adults in winter, more than those in summer plumage, and 

 are as follows : — The upper part of the head is greyish-black, 

 streaked with pale red ; the hind part and sides of the neck 



