THE PURPLE SANDPIPERS. 237 



of dull white on the lores and behind the eye; eyelid whitish ; 

 sides of face, throat, and fore-neck sooty-brown, the chin whiter; 

 breast and abdomen, as well as the under tail-coverts, white, 

 the breast and sides of the body mottled with dusky-brown 

 centres to the feathers, the flanks streaked with the same colour ; 

 axillaries and under wing-coveits pure white ; quill-lining ashy- 

 grey. Total length, 7-5 inches; culmen, 1*2; wing, 4-9; tail, 

 2'i ; tarsus, 0-85. 



Young Birds. Resemble the winter plumage of the adults, 

 but are distinguished by the white fringes to the feathers of the 

 upper surface, especially on the wing-coverts, scapulars, and 

 inner secondaries ; the chest and sides of the body more 

 plentifully mottled with spots of dusky-black. 



Adults in Summer Plumage. Differ from the winter plumage in 

 being browner below and not so ashy, the fore-neck being either 

 uniform brown or mottled with spots of black, the upper breast 

 and sides of the body being also thickly spotted with black. 

 The upper surface is black, with rufous margins to the feathers 

 instead of ashy or whitish ones; bill dark brown, paler at the 

 base ; feet dull yellow ; claws black ; iris hazel. Total length, 

 8-5 inches; culmen, 1-5 ; wing, 5-2; tail, 2*15; tarsus, 0*95. 



Characters. The Purple Sandpiper can always be distin- 

 guished by its black rump and upper tail coverts, combined 

 with the white inner secondaries. 



Range in Great Britain The present species inhabits the 

 coasts of Great Britain during winter, but is everywhere rather 

 local and is more common in some years than others. Like 

 other waders, individuals of the Purple Sandp per have been 

 known to remain in Great Britain during summer, and these 

 doubtless have been non-breeding birds. Indeed, the species 

 has been credibly supposed to have bred within our limits, 

 as Mr. Howard Saunders says : " Young scarcely able to fly 

 have been obtained on the Fame Islands, where they are sup- 

 posed to have been hatched ; while adults have been observed 

 in the Outer Hebrides and other northern localities as late as 

 the end of May. There is even strong presumptive evidence 

 that the bird nests on the high ground in the Shetlands, though 

 jdeptified eggs have not yet been obtained. On the ruggec} 



