304 BRITISH BIRDS 



At this season the birds are in their full summer dress, which resem- 

 bles that of the knot. The bird is, Seebolmi writes, ' a miniature 

 knot with a long, decurved bill.' Its breeding-grounds have not vet 

 been discovered. 



Purple Sandpiper. 

 Tringa striata. 



Head and neck dusky brown tinged with grey; upper parts 

 nearly black, with purple reflections ; the feathers edged with ash ; 

 throat, neck, and breast greyish ; below, white ; legs and feet ochre- 

 yellow. Length, eight and a quarter inches. In winter the upper 

 parts are sooty and the breast dark ash-brown, with faint lines and 

 mottlings. 



The purple sandpiper is an inhabitant of the British coasts in 

 autumn and winter, and is occasionally seen associating with dunlins 

 on the sand and mud flats, and may readily be distinguished by its 

 darker colour and its lumpier figure, caused by the thickness of its 

 winter plumage. But its favourite haunts are rocky shores, where 

 it feeds among the stranded seaweed on marine insects, small 

 shrimps, and other crustaceans. It is, in fact, a sandpiper with the 

 feeding habits of the turnstone. It is known to breed on the Faroes, 

 where it nests on the fells and mountains and lays four eggs, 

 pale green or olive, blotched with reddish brown, with purplish 

 under-markings. Its eggs have never been found within the British 

 Islands, but it is probable that a few pairs breed annually on some 

 of the islands and on the mainland of Scotland. In its summer 

 haunts in the arctic regions it is said to be the most abundant sand- 

 piper. With us it is not a common species, and is seen in small 

 flocks of half a dozen to a dozen birds. 



Knot. 

 Tringa canutus. 



Ciown and neck reddish brown with darker streaks; mantle 

 blackish ; the feathers spotted with chestnut and margined with 

 white ; tail-coverts white barred with black ; cheeks, throat, and 

 breast chestnut. Length, ten inches. In winter the upper parts 

 are ash-grey and the under parts white flecked with grey. 



