68 TRINGIN^E. TRINGA. 



on the back with light red, and tipped with white, the lower 

 parts white, streaked and spotted with dusky grey. 



Male, 8J, 14J, 5&, 1 T ' T , j, H> iV Female, 9J, 14 J. 



Although not extremely rare, the Purple Sandpipers are 

 not very frequently met with. This happens partly because 

 they seldom form large flocks, and partly on account of their 

 confining themselves, while searching for food, to the rocky 

 part of the coast. They appear with us about the middle of 

 October, and remain until the end of spring. They fly in 

 curves, sweeping over the sea when removing from one place 

 to another, and now and then emitting a faint shrill cry, in 

 the manner of the Dunlins, which they also closely resemble 

 in their mode of walking or rather running along the shore, 

 where they search the rocks and fuci for small testaceous 

 mollusca, crabs, and onisci. No instance of their breeding 

 in this country has been recorded. They are common in sum- 

 mer in the northern parts of Europe and North America. 

 The eggs are " pyriform, sixteen lines and a half long, and an 

 inch across at their greatest breadth. Their colour is yellow- 

 ish-grey, interspersed with small irregular spots of pale brown, 

 crowded at the obtuse end, and rare at the other/' 



Rock Sandpiper. 



Tringa maritima, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 678. Tringa mari- 

 tima, Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 731. Tringa maritima, Temm. 

 Man. d'Ornith. ii. 619- Tringa maritima, Purple Sandpiper, 

 MacGillivray Brit. Birds, iv. 



179. TRINGA RUFESCENS. BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 



Bill not longer than the head, straight ; tail with the mid- 

 dle feathers considerably longer, the three lateral nearly 

 equal ; tarsus an inch and a third longer than the middle toe ; 

 bill dull olive-green ; feet yellowish-green ; bare part of the 

 tibia half an inch. The upper parts greyish-yellow, spotted 

 with blackish-brown ; the wing-coverts lighter ; the quills 

 and coverts light greyish-brown, greenish-black at the end, 

 with the tip whitish, the inner webs whitish in the greater 

 part of their extent, and beautifully dotted with black in un- 

 dulating lines ; the two middle tail-feathers greyish-brown, 

 at the end dusky ; the rest gradually paler, edged and tipped 

 with white, within which are two lines of blackish-brown ; 

 cheeks, fore part and sides of the neck, with the sides of the 

 body light reddish-yellow, the sides of the body streaked with 

 brownish-black, the rest of the lower parts reddish-white ; 

 Jower primary coverts dotted with black, as are the inner 



