THE PURPLE SAND PIPER. 217 
together as to afford an excellent shot, especially when 
they suddenly alight in a mass near the sportsman, 
or when, swiftly veering, they expose their lowet 
parts at the same moment. On such occasions a 
dozen or more may be killed at once, provided the 
proper moment is chosen. 
“There seems to be a kind of impatience in this 
bird that prevents it from remaining any length of 
time in the same place, and you may see it, scarcely 
alighted on a sand-bar, fly off without any apparent 
reason to another, where it settles, runs for a few 
moments, and again starts off on wing. When search- 
ing for food they run with great agility, following the 
retiring waves, and retreating as they advance; pro- 
bing the wet sands, and picking up objects from their 
surface, ever jerking up the tail, and now and then 
uttering a faint cry, pleasant to the ear, and differing 
from the kind of scream which they emit while on 
wing.” 
This bird appears to be an inhabitant of both con- 
tinents, and although so abundant along the coasts 
at some seasons, they appear always to retire to the 
Arctic regions to breed. 
The Purple Sand Piper frequents the Atlantic 
shores from Maine to New York during the Spring 
and Autumn, but passes the Summer in the Hudson’s 
Bay country. While in the south it seems to prefer 
rocky shores to the sandy beaches. Their food con- 
sists of small shell-fish, worms, and the marine in- 
sects which abound among the drifting sea-weeds. 
The Semi-palmated Sand Piper is one of those spe- 
19 
