PURPLE SANDPIPER. 411 



Finsch, who says he has examined an example from the 

 Cape of Good Hope (Abh. naturw. Ver. Bremen, iii. p. 65), 

 but perhaps there may be some error as to the locality. 



In North America the Purple Sandpiper is found breeding 

 throughout the greater part of the Arctic regions, with the 

 exception of Smith's Sound, where Major Feilden did not 

 observe it on the last British Expedition, and it is perhaps by 

 way of the Yukon and Alaska that visitors reach the Asiatic 

 side of Behring's Straits. It is found on the chain of the 

 Great Lakes, and on the east coast it is common in winter 

 as far as the Middle States ; it also visits Bermuda. 



The nest of the Purple Sandpiper is tolerably compact 

 and well made, placed deep in the ground, and, in Spits- 

 bergen, lined with the leaves of the dwarf birch, Betula nana. 

 In the circumpolar regions its nest is frequently placed close 

 to the sea-shore, but in the Faeroes the late John Wolley, 

 and afterwards Major Feilden (Zool. 1872, p. 3250), found 

 it on the fells ; one being taken by the latter on the 20th 

 May, when deep snow was still lying in the sheltered spots, 

 and the tops of the hills were white. The eggs, four in 

 number, are greenish-grey with purplish under-shell mark- 

 ings and reddish-brown surface-blotches : the average mea- 

 surements are 1*45 by 1 in. It would appear that the 

 female takes a share in the duties of incubation, but Mr. 

 Collett says that in Finmark he never found any but males 

 in attendance on the broods. The stomachs of those which 

 he shot in summer had the remains of insects, principally 

 Otiorhynchus blandus ; whilst one obtained in November 

 contained the young of Litorina and Mytilus edulis, together 

 with the seeds of a sea-shore plant. Saxby found it feeding 

 on a minute vegetable substance which grew upon the small 

 stones in trickling water. Its note is a faint weet wit. 



The prevailing bluish-lead colour of this species in winter 

 at once distinguishes it from every other British Sandpiper. 



The adult in summer has the beak dark brown at the tip, 

 yellow at the base ; the irides hazel ; the head and neck all 

 round dusky-grey, streaked with darker grey ; back, scapulars, 

 and tertials, bluish-black: some of the feathers margined with 



