PURPLE SANDPIPER. 667 



activity in escaping the advancing sea. It does not breed 

 there." 



Mr. Dann remarks, that " unlike the others of this tribe, 

 the Purple Sandpiper does not altogether quit the Scandi- 

 navian coast in winter : as the ice accumulates and the sea 

 freezes up, it betakes itself to the outermost range of islands 

 and rocks Avitli which that coast is so numerously studded, 

 feeding among the sea-weed left bare by the slight fall of the 

 tide, on the marine insects which it finds at the edge of the 

 water. I have procured specimens throughout the winter on 

 the Swedish coast, and during very severe frosts. It is per- 

 fectly fearless. During windy weather, when not feeding, it 

 seeks shelter in the crevices of the rocks. Its plumage in 

 winter is very thick, and the bird appears much larger than 

 in summer." 



This bird visits the Faroe islands, Iceland, Greenland, and 

 Spitsbergen. M. K. E. Von Baer, in his description of ani- 

 mal life in Nova Zembla, mentions that eight species of 

 Birds were found there, one of which is the Purple Sand- 

 piper. On Sir Edward Parry^s first voyage these birds were 

 found abundant in Davis' Straits, and Baffin's Bay. During 

 the second voyage they were seen on the rocks at low-water 

 mark on Winter Island, in June. On the third voyage they 

 were seen at Port Bowen, and on the fourth voyage they 

 were abundant along the shores of Hecla Cove. Captain 

 James Clark Ross, in reference to the last long voyage, says 

 they were seen in considerable numbers near Fury Point. 

 Dr. Richardson says, '^ this bird breeds abundantly on Mel- 

 ville Peninsula and the shores of Hudson's Bay. Its eggs 

 are pyriform, sixteen lines and a half long, and an inch across 

 at their greatest breadth. Their colour is yellowish grey, 

 interspersed with small irregular spots of pale hair brown, 

 crowded at the obtuse end, and rare at the other." 



