282 BY THE DEEP SEA. 



is a strong one and capable of breaking into the strongholds 

 of small cockles, mussels, and Venus shells. So far as the coast 

 is concerned it selects sandy shores for its breeding-places, 

 where it may be seen running quickly up and down at the 

 very edge of the water. It makes no nest, merely selecting 

 the slight shelter of a tuft of grass on the higher, drier part of 

 the sands, and there it lays its three or four clay-coloured 

 eggs, spotted, blotched, and streaked with dark-brown, and 

 arranged with their narrow ends close together. If there are 

 four eggs in the clutch they will be arranged cross-wise. 



The Purple Sandpiper (Tringa striatd] must not be looked 

 for by the summer visitor, for it only comes to these shores 

 when it has donned its winter dress. The same may be said 

 of the Knot (Tringa canutus}, which is sometimes confused 

 with the Purple Sandpiper, but they may be readily dis- 

 tinguished in winter dress by examining the upper tail-coverts. 

 In T. striata these are quite black, but in 7\ canutus they are 

 white barred with black. 



The Sanderling (Calidris arenarid) is plentiful in spring and 

 autumn, on the wet sands and adjacent rocks; its whitish 

 underside showing distinctly. The Redshank ( Totanus calidris) 

 is also common on many of our shores ; its winter plumage is 

 uniformly grey above, white beneath ; but in spring this changes 

 to brown, spotted and barred with black on the upper parts, 

 and the white of the lower surfaces becomes greatly modified 

 by the many streaks and spots of dark brown. 



The Curlew (Numenius arquatd) in its seasonal migrations 

 has usually some representatives upon the coast, though it is 

 in the winter that they are most commonly seen there, 

 especially in the south, where they spend the winter in flocks. 

 The Whimbrel (Numenius phceopus], which is a smaller 

 Curlew, is often found on the same shores in winter and 

 spring. It may be distinguished not merely by the smaller 

 stature, but by a difference in the colour and markings of the 

 head. In the Curlew this has a light brown crown streaked 



