1^8 DuTCHER on Long Island Birds. [April 



he shot that day, at Shuinecock Bav, Suffolk Co.. while shooting Bay- 

 birds (Limicolae) over decoys. Two days after he shot another. 



14. Tringa maritima. Purple Sandpiper. — This species was one of 

 the desiderata of Mr. Giraud, who wrote of it as follows : " This species I 

 have never met with, and from my own observations of its habits and 

 customs I know nothing. On the shore of Long Island it is exceedingly 

 rare. Of all the transient visitors, there is no species for which I have 

 made more diligent search than the Purple Sandpiper. At different 

 seasons of the year, I have traversed the beaches and shoals on the south, 

 and rambled over the rocky shores of the north side of the Island — but 

 thus far it has eluded all my endeavors. Respecting it, I have had fre- 

 quent conversations with the bay-men, without gathering any information, 

 it being to those with w"hom I have conversed entirely unknown ; and 

 were it not from having in my possession a specimen that was purchased 

 in Fulton Market, and having seen two or three others that were procured 

 through the same source — all of which, it is said, were shot on the eastern 

 end of the Island — I would not feel at liberty to include it in our local 

 Fauna." * 



It is very probable that this Sandpiper is only found, now, as when 

 Mr. Giraud wrote of it, on the eastern portion of the Island, and perhaps 

 on the north side, where it can find the rocky shores so necessary to its 

 existence. Mr. Newbold T. Lawrencef and Mr. Robert B. Lawrence, J 

 both well known in connection with Long Island birds, have each recorded 

 one specimen from the Island. It is further probable that it is not only 

 a regular winter visitant, but that it is not uncommon in suitable localities 

 on Long Island. Its being found only on rocky shores and during the 

 winter months, accounts largely for its being overlooked. The bleakness 

 and desolation of winter along the seashore deters sportsmen from fre- 

 quenting it even at the most favorable times, but when there is added the 

 snow and sleet of a northeast gale none but the hardy members of the 

 Life Saving Crews, those noblemen who ever stand ready to risk their 

 own lives to save those of storm-tossed and surf-beaten mariners, and the 

 isolated few who devote their lives to solitude and loneliness in the light- 

 house towers, that stand as beacons to warn the sailor where danger lurks, 

 ever have the opportunity of observing this boreal Sandpiper in its chosen 

 surroundings. At the entrance to Long Island Sound lies a small rocky 

 island, known as Little Gull, on which is erected a lighthouse that by 

 day and night serves as a guide from the stormy waters of the Atlantic to 

 the land-locked Long Island Sound. The keeper of this light, Mr. H. P. 

 Field, has given me many valuable notes, and some specimens, of the 

 birds of his vicinity. His means of communication with the mails are 

 by sailing a long distance to the nearest port on Long Island, or else to 

 put off in a small boat and hail some inward bound vessel and get the 

 master to forward his notes or specimens. Communication is therefore 



* Birds of Long Island, pp. 236, 237. 

 t Forest and Stream, Vol. X, p. 235. 

 + Ibid., Vol. XXVII, p. 428. 



