Vv CHARADRIIDAE 281 
The male is especially remarkable for his habit, apparently 
unique in the Family, of inflating the oesophagus during his court- 
ing performances, until it hangs down like a bag; meanwhile he 
takes short flights or rises with stiffened wings in the air, uttering 
a muffled booming note The Old World form, 7. acuminata, 
extends from East Siberia to Alaska, migrating to the Malay 
Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand; it differs 
in its white chin and distinctly streaked flanks. 7. maritima or 
striata, the Purple Sandpiper, is brownish-grey above, with rufous 
spotting on the blacker mantle, and some white on the wing; the 
throat and breast are greyish with dusky streaks, the abdomen is 
white. In winter, when the upper parts are purplish-black and 
the breast is unspotted, it occurs from Scandinavia and temperate 
America to the Mediterranean and the Bermudas, arriving in 
Britain later than its congeners, and frequenting spray-washed, sea- 
weed-covered rocks in search of small molluscs. It is usually 
tame, can swim well, and utters a soft low note. The eggs, often 
of avery green ground-colour, are deposited in mossy or grassy places 
on hill-tops, from the Faroes northwards, though in the more Arctic 
regions of Europe and Eastern America the bird breeds at the 
sea-level. It nests in Franz Josef Land, but is rare in Asia. The 
Prybilof Island form has been called 7. ptilocnemis, the Alaskan 
T. couest. T. canutus, the Knot, possibly, but not probably, named 
after Canute, has in summer a reddish head and neck, black, cinna- 
mon, and white upper parts, chestnut under surface, and white tail- 
coverts barred with black. The plumage varies greatly according 
to age and season, but the winter adult is grey above and white 
with dusky flecks below. While no absolutely identified eggs 
exist, this species undoubtedly breeds on the North Georgian 
or Parry Islands, Melville Peninsula, Grinnell Land, Smith’s 
Sound, and Lady Franklin Bay, but apparently not in Arctic 
Europe, though possibly in Asia. Large flocks migrate to our 
shores, and some individuals reach Brazil, Damara-Land, the 
Indian Region, Australia, and New Zealand; they are tame on 
arrival and used to be netted for the table in England. In 
Arctic America Saxifraga oppositifolia and Algae vary the diet of 
insects and molluses, but other Sandpipers are known to eat plants. 
1 Adams, P.Z.S., 1859, p. 130; Nelson, Auk, 1884, pp. 218-221 ; id. N.H. Collect. 
Alaska, Washington, 1887, pp. 108-109 ; Murdoch, Rep. Polar Exped. Pt. Barrow, 
Washington, 1885, p. 111. 
