308 CHARADRIID 
but in the Faroes, Wolley and Col. Feilden have found 
the breeding-haunts on the Fells (Saunders). The nest 
is a depression, scraped in the ground amid grass and such 
herbage, and lined with dry leaves. The eggs are dull 
greenish-olive, or greenish-brown and buff, blotched with 
reddish-brown and rather faint purplish markings. Four 
constitute the clutch. 
Geographical distribution.—The Purple Sandpiper breeds 
in Northern and Arctic Europe, Asia, and America, numbers 
resorting to the Faroes and Iceland. On migration it visits 
the coast-lands of Europe, North Africa, and North America. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult maie nuptial—Top of head, greyish- 
brown, thinly striped with dull, ight buff; hind-neck, dusky- 
brown ; back, scapulars, and inner secondaries, glossy-black, 
reflecting purplish shades, the feathers being margined 
with rich buff and dull white; rump and central tail- 
feathers, dark brownish-black ; lateral tail-feathers (shorter 
than the central pair), ash-brown; primaries, blackish ; 
outer secondaries, chiefly white, noticeable in flight; front 
of neck, white, striped with dull light brown; rest of neck 
and breast, greyish, marked with short, dusky streaks ; 
abdomen, whitish ; flanks, spotted with brown. 
Adult female nuptial—sSimuilar to the male plumage. 
Adult winter, male and female——Head and neck, dull 
ereyish-black ; back, scapulars, and inner secondaries, dark 
glossy purplish-black, the feathers being edged with dull 
leaden-grey; wing-coverts, nearly black, with dull white 
margins; chin, greyish-white; front of neck and breast, 
dark grey, with indistinct lighter mottlings; abdomen, 
whitish ; flanks, boldly striped with dark grey. 
Immature, male and female—Back, scapulars, wings, and 
breast, dusky, the feathers being margined with dull white. 
Break. Dull yellowish-brown near the base, darker 
towards the tip. 
Frxer. Dull naples-yellow. 
Tribes. Blackish-brown. 
AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH ... .. 875in. Female larger. 
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