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TRINGA MARITIMA— BRUNNICH. 



PURPLE SANDPIPER. 



Tringa maritima, Bonap. Syr. 



Tringa maritima, Purple Sandpiper, Sw. & Rich. 



Purpic Sandpiper, Tringa maritima, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Bill along the ridge one inch and three- 

 eighths ; length of tarsi nine-sixteenths of an inch ; neck short, full ; 

 body compact ; wings rather broad ; the upper parts glossed with 

 purple; fore neck, neck all round, grayish-brown; lower parts 

 grayish-white, the breast and sides of the body marked with large 

 purplish-brown spots. Adult with the bill orange at the base, black 

 at the end ; a spot of white before the eye ; head and neck grayish 

 brown, chin and upper part of the throat rather whiter ; back black- 

 ish brown, deeply tinged with purpic, the feathers faintly margined 

 with white ; breast grayish-brown, the feathers more broadly mark- 

 ed with white; lower part of the breast, abdomen, and sides of the 

 body, grayish-white, marked with large spots of brown — under tail 

 coverts the same ; primaries dark brown, shafts white, blackish- 

 brown at the tips ; secondaries margined and tipped with white — 

 several of the middle ones white ; tail feathers ash-gray, margined 

 with white, excepting the middle ones, which are dark brown ; feet 

 light orange. Length nine inches and a half, wing five. 



This species I have never met with, and from my own observa- 

 tions of its habits and customs I know nothing. On the shore of 

 .Long Island it is exceedingly rare. At this I am somewhat sur- 

 prised, as it is siid to occur very plentifully on the sea coast of 

 Massachusetts. Of all the transient visiters, there is no species for 

 which I have made more diligent search than the Purple Sandpi- 

 per. At different seasons of the year, I have traversed the beaches 

 and shoals on the south, and rambled over the rocky shores of the 

 north side of the Island — but thus far it has eluded all my endea- 

 vors. Respecting it, I have had frequent conversations with the 

 jbay-men, without gathering any information, it being to those with 



