428 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



3. Migration. A bird of passage to our coasts, the east and south coasts 

 of England being especially favoured. The birds appear in August and September, 

 and the majority have passed by October, but in the south of Ireland examples 

 may be met with till December. The return passage lasts from mid-March to 

 June. The curlew-sandpiper generally associates with the flocks of dunlins which 

 are to be found about our coasts at these seasons : it is immature birds that are 

 usually met with. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Does not breed in the British Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. Insects and their larvae; the smaller thin-skinned crustaceans; 

 mussel-spat and small Mollusca generally, and worms. The young are accom- 

 panied and aided, probably by both parents, in their search for food, which consists 

 largely no doubt of insects and their larvae, [w. F.] 



PURPLE-SANDPIPER [Pelidna maritima (Briinnich) ; Tringa maritima 

 Gmelin. Tinker (Northumberland). French, becasseau violet ; German, 

 See-Strandldufer ; Italian, piovanello violetto]. 



I. Description. While in many respects recalling the dunlin, the purple- 

 sandpiper may always be distinguished therefrom by the yellow colour of the 

 legs, which are much shorter than the middle toe and claw. The sexes are alike, 

 and there is a conspicuous seasonal change of coloration. (PI. 123.) Length 8|- in. 

 [215'90 mm.]. The adult in nuptial dress has the feathers of the upper parts black 

 enlivened by a purple gloss, and, on the mantle, with marginal bands of pale chest- 

 nut ; on the hindmost scapulars the chestnut colour is reduced to a pair of triangular 

 marginal spots, while the tips of the feathers are white. The central tail feathers 

 are broad, black, and glossed with purple, the rest of the tail feathers being grey, 

 the outermost with narrow margins of white. The wing-coverts are dark ash- 

 brown, with pale grey margins ; those of the major series have white tips. The 

 primaries are brownish black, with whitish shafts, and the innermost have a narrow 

 fore-edge of white. The secondaries are conspicuously tipped with white, and 

 those of the inner third of the wing are pure white. The long inner secondaries, 

 however, are black with a faint purplish gloss, and pale greyish white tips. The 

 throat is white, but the fore-neck, fore-breast, and flanks are striated with black, 

 as also are the under tail-coverts. Towards the end of the summer the upper parts 

 become much darker, owing to the loss of the greater part of the chestnut colour 

 by abrasion. After the autumn moult the head and neck are of a uniform ash- 



