BIRDS OF THE SHORES 419 



the exact position of the breeding sites remained 

 undiscoA^ered. 



But the latitudes in which the eggs might be 

 looked for, had long been mapped out by ornithol- 

 ogists, and at length, after many expeditions had 

 failed, Mr. H. L. Popham, of the British Orni- 

 thologists' Union, on July 3, 1897, succeeded in 

 discovering a nest at the mouth of the Yenesei, one 

 of the great Siberian rivers which flow into the 

 Arctic Ocean. This nest was in a hollow in a ridge 

 on the tundra, and the four eggs, the only examples 

 known, resemble those of the Snipe, but are some- 

 what smaller. 



Sometimes, mingling with the Dunlin, the Purple 

 Sandpiper, a bird alike in shape, but obviously 

 darker and more purple in hue, may be distin- 

 guished. This Sandpiper, however, although it is 

 widely distributed in winter on the coasts of Great 

 Britain, and is believed to nest at times on the 

 Fame Islands and in the Outer Hebrides, is by no 

 means numerous. 



It is not a true bird of the mud-flats, preferring 

 rather the rocky edges of the sea, where in parties 

 of eight or ten, it may be seen flitting amidst the 

 sea-weed, oftentimes partly submerged by the spray 

 as it feeds. Although the Purple Sandpiper is not 

 web-footed, it swims and even dives freely on 

 occasion, but does not, I think, commonly take to 

 the water unless wounded or pursued. 



The Green Sandpiper, too, visits these latitudes 

 in its spring and autumn migrations, but is usually 



