308 CHARADKIID^ 



but in the Faroes, Wolley and Col. Feilden have found 

 the breeding-haunts on the Fells (Saunders). The nest 

 is a depression, scraped in the ground amid grass and such 

 herbage, and lined with dry leaves. The eggs are dull 

 greenish-olive, or greenish-brown and buff, blotched with 

 reddish-brown and rather faint purplish markings. Four 

 constitute the clutch. 



Geographical distribution. The Purple Sandpiper breeds 

 in Northern and Arctic Europe, Asia, and America, numbers 

 resorting to the Faroes and Iceland. On migration it visits 

 the coast-lands of Europe, North Africa, and North America. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, greyish- 

 brown, thinly striped with dull, light buff; hind-neck, dusky- 

 brown ; back, scapulars, and inner secondaries, glossy-black, 

 reflecting purplish shades, the feathers being margined 

 with rich buff and dull white ; rump and central tail- 

 feathers, dark brownish-black ; lateral tail-feathers (shorter 

 than the central pair), ash-brown ; primaries, blackish ; 

 outer secondaries, chiefly white, noticeable in flight ; front 

 of neck, white, striped with dull light brown ; rest of neck 

 and breast, greyish, marked with short, dusky streaks ; 

 abdomen, whitish ; flanks, spotted with brown. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage. 



Adult winter, male and female. Head and neck, dull 

 greyish-black ; back, scapulars, and inner secondaries, dark 

 glossy purplish-black, the feathers being edged with dull 

 leaden- grey; wing-coverts, nearly black, with dull white 

 margins ; chin, greyish- white ; front of neck and breast, 

 dark grey, with indistinct lighter mottlings ; abdomen, 

 whitish ; flanks, boldly striped with dark grey. 



Immature, male and female. Back, scapulars, wings, and 

 breast, dusky, the feathers being margined with dull white. 



BEAK. Dull yellowish-brown near the base, darker 

 towards the tip. 



FEET. Dull naples-yellow. 



IHIDES. Blackish-brown. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 8*75 in. Female larger. 



WING 5 



BEAK ... ... ... 1'2 



TAESO-METATABSUS ... 1 ,, 



EGG 1'45 X 1 in. 



