46 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



There is another matter also to be considered : the 

 bite of a conger eel is to be avoided if possible. 

 When the tide was out the birds picked about the 

 broken-up rocks and the tide-pools. They are not 

 timid, so that they may be observed with little 

 trouble. A couple here, one there, never in numbers 

 at any time on that hard shore. At high tide the 

 waves rushed up the shelving rock patches, broke 

 up in foam and receded, pouring off in cataracts of 

 hissing water. Then the Purple Sandpipers were 

 busy. 



The female is similar to the male, only larger. 

 In summer, at least, their plumage is alike — the 

 breeding state of plumage. The upper parts are 

 glossy purple black, the feathers on the head with 

 red margins, on the back red with white tips, lower 

 parts white, spotted and streaked with grey. As I 

 have stated, the bird is seen here, at times, nearly 

 in this state of colouring. The Purple Sandpiper 

 resembles the Dunlin generally, but his form is 

 more robust. 



That nimble, neat-looking bird the Dunlin has 

 many local names, according to the districts the bird 

 is found in — Ox-bird, Dorbie, Ox-eye, Purree, Sea 

 Snipe, Stint, Sea Lark, Plover's Page, Red-backed 

 Sandpiper, etc. 



For some time this bird, owing to its very different 

 states of summer and winter plumage, was a puzzle 

 to our earlier ornithologists, and they made two 

 distinct species from the same bird. To a novice 

 it is confusing to hear on some parts of our coast 



