474 SANDPIPERS AND RELATED SPECIES 



pared by Dresser to small snipes' eggs. The ground-colour varies 

 from stone colour or ochreous to greenish grey, and the markings are 

 bold irregular blotches of dark chocolate or sepia-brown and under- 

 lying ashy grey spots. Average size of 12 eggs, 1 '44x1 '01 in. 

 [367 x 25-6 mm.]. 1 



From the beginning of the autumn passage in August, through- 

 out September and up to October, many flocks of dunlin include 

 small detachments of little-stints and curlew-sandpipers. Except to 

 an experienced observer they are not easy to distinguish. The little- 

 stint is conspicuously smaller than its congeners, and more rapid in its 

 movements both on foot and in flight. As the mixed flocks of small 

 Waders race along the wet sands, it has been observed that the little- 

 stints generally outstrip their larger companions. In flight they have 

 been seen to ascend to a great height, fly out to sea, and then 

 suddenly to drop and skim so close to the breakers that each down 

 stroke of their wings almost touched the water. 2 



The curlew-sandpiper is more easily mistaken for the dunlin, but 

 on the ground the longer and more curved bill of the former species, 

 and in flight its white upper tail-coverts, will generally serve to dis- 

 tinguish it. Also, according to Professor Patten, its flight is more 

 undulating and less twisting than that of the dunlin. 3 



The purple-sandpiper is not so partial to the open sandy shore or 

 mud-banks in estuaries as are most species of Waders. It prefers 

 wild rocky coasts, where it haunts the rock-pools and seaweed 

 covered rocks, seeking its food among them at low water, and resting 

 on the higher rocks when the tide is in. It associates with other 

 Waders, chiefly turnstones, when feeding on the edge of the water. 

 It has been stated that it feeds not so much at the ebb, as when the 

 tide is coming in. 4 But according to Mr. Dunn quoted by Mac- 

 gillivray in Shetland and Orkney, when they gather in flocks prepar- 

 atory to taking their departure in the spring, they " may be found on 



1 F. C. R. Jourdain, in litt. " Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 297. 



3 Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 303. 4 Zoologist, 1896, p. 409. 



