THE CURLEW-SANDPIPERS. 239 



ming at the base of the rocks on which their companions were 

 searching for food. It never seems to dive, however, except 

 when wounded. Sometimes, when flushed, it has been known 

 to ahght on the water several yards from shore. The food of 

 the Purple Sandpiper is composed of marine insects, small 

 crustaceans and molluscs, and the seeds of several shore-plants. 

 It obtains most of its food as the tide comes in or ebbs, 

 usually sitting on the rocks at high water, pluming itself, bask- 

 ing in the sun, and waiting for the sea to go down again. The 

 flight of the Purple Sandpiper is rapid, but not usually 

 very high. Sometimes it skims along for a short distance, 

 hovers in the air, or runs along the ground with wings out- 

 spread over its back. The note of this bird somewhat re- 

 sembles that of the Common Sandpiper : it is loud, clear, and 

 shrill, and often repeated, but very difficult to express on paper 

 — a kind of iiice^ not unlike the note of the House-Martin, but 

 louder." 



Nest. — A slight depression, lined with a little moss or dried 

 grass. 



Eggs. — Four in number, pear-shaped, and resembling the 

 eggs of the Dunlin, from which, however, they can be 

 distinguished by their larger size. The variation in the tint 

 of the ground-colour is just as marked as in that species, 

 the colour ranging from greenish stone-grey to brownish clay- 

 colour, or even reddish-brown. The spots are reddish-brown, 

 sometimes inclining to black, and are thickly distributed over 

 the eggs, in the same manner as in those of the Dunlin. Axis, 

 J "4-1 -5 inch; diam., i'o-i*i 



THE CURLEW-SANDPIPERS. GENUS ANCYLOCHILUS. 



Ancylocheilus, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 50 (1829). 



Type, A. subarcuatus (Giildenst.). 



In general appearance the Curlew-Sandpiper — for there is 

 only one representative of the genus Aticylochihis — is very like 

 a Dunlin, and as in the genus Pelidna^ the bill is longer than 

 the tarsus. The shape of the bill, however, is different, being 

 very long and slender and tapering to a point, without any 



