PURPLE SANDPIPER. 95 



the sea freezes up, it betakes itself to the outermost range 

 of islands and rocks with which that coast is so numerously 

 studded, feeding among the sea-weed left bare by the 

 slight fall of the tide, or the marine insects which it finds 

 at the edge of the water. I have procured specimens 

 throughout the winter on the Swedish coast, and during 

 very severe frosts. It is perfectly fearless. During 

 windy weather, when not feeding, it seeks shelter in the 

 crevices of the rocks. Its plumage in winter is very thick, 

 and the bird appears much larger than in summer." 



This birds visits the Faroe islands, Iceland, Greenland, 

 and Spitzbergen. M. K. E. Von Baer, in his description 

 of animal life in Nova Zembla, mentions that eight species 

 of birds were found there, one of which is the Purple Sand- 

 piper. On Sir Edward Parry's first voyage these birds 

 were found abundant in Davis' Straits, and Baffin's Bay. 

 During the second voyage they were seen on the rocks at 

 low-water mark on Winter Island, in June. On the 

 third voyage they were seen at Port Bowen, and on the 

 fourth voyage they were seen abundant along the shores of 

 Hecla Cove. Sir James Clark Ross, in reference to the 

 last long voyage, says they were seen in considerable num- 

 bers near Fury Point. Sir John Richardson says, " This 

 bird breeds abundantly on Melville Peninsula and the 

 shores of Hudson's Bay. Its eggs are pyriform, sixteen 

 lines and a half long, and an inch across at their greatest 

 breadth. Their colour is yellowish grey, interspersed with 

 small irregular spots of pale hair brown, crowded at the 

 obtuse end, and rare at the other." 



This species is well known to the ornithologists of North 

 America, where it has an extensive range. 



East of the British Islands, M. Temminck says, the 

 Purple Sandpiper is very common on the coast of Holland. 

 M. Vieillot says it is found in Normandy and Picardy, and 



