410 SCOLOPACIDJl. 



the Faeroes, especially on Sandoe ; and northwards, in 

 Iceland, Greenland, Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, and in 

 fact throughout the greater portion of the Arctic regions 

 it is the most numerous of its genus. It nests in Fin- 

 mark ; and along the entire north and west coast of 

 Norway, which is under the influence of the Gulf Stream, 

 it winters, according to Mr. Collett, in countless thou- 

 sands, although it rarely goes up the large fiords. Mr. 

 Dann remarks, that, " unlike the others of this tribe, the 

 Purple Sandpiper does not altogether quit the Scandinavian 

 coast in winter : as the ice accumulates and the sea freezes 

 up, it betakes itself to the outermost range of islands and 

 rocks with which that coast is so numerously studded, feed- 

 ing among the seaweed 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 feed- 

 ing, 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." In the Baltic, however, it appears 

 to be uncommon at any season, and it is only in mild winters 

 that it remains on the coast from Denmark to Belgium. To 

 the shores of France and the Iberian Peninsula it is a well- 

 known visitor, and it may possibly breed high up on the 

 mountains in the Azores, as Mr. Godman shot a male in full 

 summer plumage on the island of Flores in June. On the 

 inland waters of the Continent it is of very rare occurrence, 

 and along the northern shores and on the islands of the 

 Mediterranean, as far east as Greece and the Cyclades, it has 

 been observed, but it is by no means common ; nor did 

 M. Alleon obtain it on the Black Sea. To the east of Novaya 

 Zemlya, where it is common, no one has obtained it in Asiatic 

 Siberia, with the exception of Middendorff, who shot three 

 specimens on the 9th August in 75 N. lat., but never saw 

 the species again: until the shores of Bearing's Straits are 

 reached, when it is again met with. In Africa the solitary 

 record of its occurrence rests on the authority of Dr. 0. 



