668 SCOLOPACID.E. 



This species is well known to the Ornithologists of North 

 America, where it has an extensive range. 



East of the British Islands, M. Temminck says, the Pur- 

 ple Sandpiper is very common on the coast of Holland. M. 

 Vieillot says it is found in Normandy and Picardy, and it 

 is seen in spring and autumn in Provence, Switzerland, and 

 Italy. 



The prevailing bluish lead colour of this species at once 

 distinguishes it from every other British Sandpiper. The 

 beak is dark reddish brown ; the irides hazel ; the adult 

 male bird, in its summer plumage, has the head and neck all 

 round dusky grey, streaked with darker grey ; back, scapu- 

 lars, and tertials, bluish black, some of the feathers margined 

 with M'hite, others with reddish bufF; wing-coverts dove grey, 

 with lighter coloured margins ; primaries dusky black, the 

 shafts white, the outer narrow web of each feather darker 

 than the broader inner Aveb ; secondaries tipped with white ; 

 upper tail-coverts almost black ; middle tail-feathers brown- 

 ish black, long and pointed, the others ash brown with lighter 

 coloured edges ; chin white ; breast nearly Avhite, spotted 

 with grey ; vent, and under tail-coverts white, with an occa- 

 sional streak of grey ; legs and toes dark reddish brown, the 

 hind toe directed inwards ; the claws black. 



The whole length eight inches and a half. From the car- 

 pal joint of the wing to the end of the first quill-feather, 

 which is the longest, five inches. The females are rather 

 larger than males. 



A bird killed in November, has the head, neck, back, and 

 upper tail-coverts, uniform lead grey ; the wing-coverts and 

 tertials only with greyish white edges ; the under surface 

 changing from bluish grey to white. In another specimen 

 killed later in the year, the breast and all the under parts are 

 nearly white, with a few spots of grey. 



