CHARADRIIDAE 28 1 



The male is especially remarkable for his habit, apparently 

 unique in the Family, of inflating the oesophagus during his court- 

 ing performances, until it hangs down like a bag ; meanwhile he 

 takes short flights or rises with stiffened wings in the air, uttering 

 a muffled booming note.^ The Old World form, T. acuminata, 

 extends from East Siberia to Alaska, migrating to the Malay 

 Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand ; it differs 

 in its white chin and distinctly streaked flanks. T. maritima or 

 striata, the Purple Sandpiper, is brownish-grey above, with rufous 

 spotting on the blacker mantle, and some white on the w^ing ; the 

 throat and breast are greyish with dusky streaks, the abdomen is 

 white. In winter, when the upper parts are purplish-black and 

 the breast is unspotted, it occurs from Scandinavia and temperate 

 America to the Mediterranean and the Bermudas, arriving in 

 Britain later than its congeners, and frequenting spray-washed, sea- 

 weed-covered rocks in search of small molluscs. It is usually 

 tame, can swim well, and utters a soft low note. The eggs, often 

 of a very green ground-colour, are deposited in mossy or grassy places 

 on hill-tops, from the Faroes northwards, though in the more Arctic 

 regions of Europe and Eastern America the bird breeds at the 

 sea-level. It nests in Franz Josef Land, but is rare in Asia. The 

 Prybilof Island form has been called T. ptilocnemis, the Alaskan 

 T. couesi. T. canutus, the Knot, possibly, but not probably, named 

 after Canute, has in summer a reddish head and neck, black, cinna- 

 mon, and white upper parts, chestnut under surface, and white tail- 

 coverts barred with black. The plumage varies greatly according 

 to age and season, but the winter adult is grey above and white 

 with dusky flecks below. While no absolutely identified eggs 

 exist, this species undoubtedly breeds on the North Georgian 

 or Parry Islands, Melville Peninsula, Grinnell Land, Smith's 

 Sound, and Lady Franklin Bay, but apparently not in Arctic 

 Europe, though possibly in Asia. Large flocks migrate to our 

 shores, and some individuals reach Brazil, Damara-Land, the 

 Indian Eegion, Australia, and New Zealand ; they are tame on 

 arrival and used to be netted for the table in England. In 

 Arctic America Saxifraga oppositifolia and Algae vary the diet of 

 insects and molluscs, but other Sandpipers are known to eat plants. 



1 Adams, P.Z.S., 1859, p. 130 ; Nelson, Auh, 1884, pp. 218-221 ; id. N.H. Colled. 

 Alaska, Washington, 1887, pp. 108-109 ; Murdoch, Rep. Polar Exped. Ft. Barrow, 

 Washington, 1885, p. 111. 



