THE PURPLE TRINGA. 193 



are shorter, the toes longer in proportion, and more free to 

 their articulation ; the foot being better adapted for walking 

 upon rocky or other hard surfaces. The feet are the same 

 dull red as the basal parts of the bill, and the claws dusky 

 and blunt at the points. 



The plumage, like that of most of the genus, is subject to 

 considerable seasonal variations, which has led to a multi- 

 plicity of names. In winter, the head and neck are dusky, 

 inclining to black ; the back and scapulars black, margined 

 with ash colour, and glossed with purple reflections; the 

 rump, tail-coverts, and four middle feathers of the tail, are 

 black, with the same reflections as the back ; the remaining 

 four feathers of each side of the tail are pale ash colour. The 

 coverts and quills are black, with white tips to the coverts, 

 most conspicuous in those over the primaries, narrow white 

 webs to the quills, except two of the secondaries, which are 

 almost entirely white, and in the expanded wing range with 

 the white tips of the coverts, forming a narrow oblique line. 

 The ground colour of the chin, throat, and all the under part, 

 white, but more or less striped and spotted with black on 

 the breast, shoulders, and flanks. In summer, the upper part 

 of the breast becomes dusky grey, and the sides of the breast 

 black ; the bill and feet also become reddish orange. There 

 is little difference in the plumage of the sexes, either in the 

 winter or the summer dress. The winter plumage has the 

 purple gloss fainter than the summer, and the grey on the 

 margins of the feathers duller. The young have the margins 

 reddish, or rust-coloured. 



In winter, these birds are not rare on the British shores, 

 and they are plentiful on those of Holland and the south of 

 the Baltic j but their nests are as rare in these localities as 

 they are in Britain. Their principal food is the smaller 

 Crustacea, and the young of various shelled mollusca, which 

 they pick up among the sand and gravel, or from the rocks, 



VOL. II. O 



