2 SCOLOPACID^. 



Azores, as Mr. Godman shot a male in full summer-plumage in June on Flores. 

 In the Mediterranean it is of unusual occurrence, and M. Alleon has not met 

 with it on the Black Sea. To the east of Novaya Zemlya the low tundras of 

 Arctic Siberia are unsuited to its habits, and it is rare or very local vmtil Bering 

 Strait is reached. American ornithologists assert that the birds found in that 

 region — inclusive of Alaska — belong to a distinct species, T. couesi, while yet 

 a third, T. ptilocnemis, is restricted to the Prybilof Islands ; Mr. Seebohm, 

 however, has a Purple Sandpiper from the Kuril group. Its range in western 

 Arctic America is, therefore, uncertain, but our bird undoubtedly breeds in the 

 north-eastern portion, migrating in winter to the Great Lakes, Middle States and, 

 exceptionally, to the Bermudas." 



The late Mr. Wolley, referring to the breeding of this species in the Faeroes, 

 says * : — " It breeds sparingly on the very tops of high mountains, where I found its 

 young at the end of June still unable to fly. One pair, I remember particularly, 

 was in the very midst of a colony of Skuas ; they stood upon large stones in 

 an easy attitude, but evidently watching our movements. From this spot I have 

 now for two years had their eggs." 



Colonel Feilden, who also found this species breeding in the Faeroes, writes f : — 

 " Pairs of these interesting birds are to be found breeding throughout the islands, 

 but they appear to be most abundant on Sandoe, from whence I received most of 

 the eggs I procured. I only found one nest myself, and that was on the 20th of 

 May, when walking over the fells between Thorshavn and Nordedhal. I almost 

 placed my foot on the hen bird, which then fluttered off" the nest, pretending to 

 be broken-legged and winged ; indeed the poor thing employed every artifice to 

 draw our attention from her eggs : she succeeded in deceiving our guide, who 

 ran after her and tried to catch her: I stopped the chase, which would otherwise 

 have proved a long one, by shooting the bird. Returning to the nest I found four 

 eggs lying in a little hollow scooped out of the scanty moss which clothed this 

 alpine region ; a few dried sprigs of moss composed the lining of the nest. The 

 fells on this date were deep with snow in the sheltered spots, and the tops of the 

 hills were white. The Purple Sandpiper was frequently seen by us along the 

 shore, sometimes singly, often in company with others of its species, as well 

 as with dunlins and turnstones, feeding at low tide on the small shells and 



* Hewitson's ' Eggs of British Birds,' 3rd edition, vol. ii. p. 367. 

 t ' Zoologist,' 1872, p. 3250. 



