PURPLE SANDPIPER. 1 39 



faintly striated in adult birds. The winter dress is much 

 greyer. The bill and legs are blackish, the irides brown. 

 Length, 7*5 ins. Wing, 47 ins. Tarsus, 0*9 in. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper. Erolia fuscicolUs (Vieill.). 



The visits of Bonaparte's Sandpiper have been more frequent 

 than those of the last species, but number under a score. 

 Except for an unproved Irish record, and the first known 

 example which was obtained in Shropshire, all have been to 

 southern counties, and the majority in September and October, 

 the time when the bird is travelling from its Arctic American 

 home towards South America. It has been found in winter 

 in Patagonia and the Falkland Isles, and occasionally touched 

 Bermuda on passage. 



This bird is not unlike a small, short-billed Dunlin in winter 

 dress, but may always be distinguished by its white upper tail- 

 coverts. In habits and food it differs little from other sand- 

 pipers ; its note, however, according to Dr. Coues, is distinctive, 

 a low weet, and Rodd remarks that birds he saw in Cornwall 

 had shorter, sharper calls than the Dunlin. 



The head and upper parts, including the tail but excluding 

 the upper tail- coverts, are brown; the head is streaked, and 

 the feathers of the back have dark centres and rufous edges. 

 The breast and flanks are grey, dotted with brown, the rest of 

 the under parts white. In winter the bird is greyer, and the 

 marks on the under parts fainter. The under parts of the 

 young are tinged with buff, and white and rufous spots show on 

 the back and mantle. The bill is black and short, the legs 

 dark ohve, the irides brown. Length, 7-25 ins. Wing, 475 

 ins. Tarsus, 0*9 in. 



Purple Sandpiper. Erolia mariiima (Briinnich). 



The breeding range of the Purple Sandpiper (Plate 56), 

 though almost circumpolar and largely Arctic, extends furthtr 



