154 



nest, now abandoned: again it tried to lure me away. I did not 

 see a 9 near and during tliese days I saw many other males, be- 

 Iiaving in the same way, but no females were seen then. The latter 

 were always found at the shore, seeking food in small numbers. 



It follows from my observations that the male breeds, tries to 

 entice intruders from the nest, protects the young and warms them, 

 in short that, after the female has laid the eggs, it behaves like the 

 female of other birds. Also later on the male is always in the 

 vicinity of the young, which are not capable of flying as yet. 

 Whether the female leaves the young after they are out, or whether 

 she also seeks food for them, I could not make out. I suppose 

 that the former is the case, because in most cases, I did not find 

 females with chickens that had left the nest. Once, however, I 

 found a female near a male (Aug. 1), which was luring away, but 

 then I could not find chickens or eggs and so it may have been 

 a late brood. 



On July 19 we found many newly-hatched young in the tundra. 

 So it seems that the males begin to breed on the same day, this 

 perhaps in connection with the melting of the snow in the tundra. 



The difference between cT and 9 during breeding time, is easy 

 to see, once known. Later on this is not so simple. I suppose 

 that the moult occurs in the beginning of August. On Aug. 14 I 

 shot a Purple Sandpiper, which showed the large dark spots of the 

 hen during breeding time on its breast. It tried to lure me away 

 in the well-known manner. When I dissected it, it proved to be 

 a male, as I had expected. 



On Aug. 3 I saw the first flying young in Tundra Boheman. 

 Later on, when they have united in small flocks with old birds on 

 the coast, they can be easily distinguished from the adult ones, 

 because a yellow spot, consisting of down-feathers, is retained in 

 their necks for a long time. 



According to le Roi (1911, p. 167) the food of the Purple Sand- 

 piper is composed chiefly of vegetables during breeding tine. I 

 often saw them feeding in the wet tundra, in the same place as 

 the Grey Phalaropes. Later on, when they occur almost exclusively 

 on the shore, the food is sure to consist chiefly of sea-animals. 



On my departure (Sept. 5) they were still found in large num- 

 bers at the coasts of Icefjord. 



