438 Scolopacidce. 



the upper, now the under, surface of the body a feat which we 

 who live far from the seashore may see faintly imitated by the 

 somewhat similar, though more clumsy, evolutions of a flock of 

 Starlings. All its movements, too, on the sand are graceful and 

 elegant, and it runs with great swiftness, for it is as active on 

 foot as on the wing. It derives its name variabilis from the 

 difference of plumage exhibited by a flock in transition from 

 winter to perfect summer dress. So abundant a bird is certain 

 to be honoured with many provincial names on the coast, and 

 accordingly we find it recognised by the fishermen of various 

 districts as the ' Ox-eye ' and the ' Oxbird,' the ' Sea Snipe ' and 

 the ' Least Snipe/ and the ' Sea Wagtail/ from a habit it has of 

 jerking the tail up and down. In Iceland it is known as Low 

 Prodi' the Servant of the Golden Plover ;' for it is there said 

 that a solitary Dunlin will attach itself to a solitary Golden 

 Plover : and this strange notion has extended to the Hebrides, 

 where, from its habit of associating with those birds, it is called 

 the ' Plover's Page.' I found it very abundant in summer on the 

 high fjelds of Norway, and no less numerous in spring on the 

 coast of Portugal ; indeed, it was the only member of the genus 

 which I met with in that country. But it is one of the most 

 cosmopolitan of birds, swarming in the island of Formosa and in 

 Japan ; very common in winter on the northern coast of Africa 

 and in the Red Sea, and breeding in Greenland, British North 

 America, and Hudson's Bay.* The Continental names are 

 generally mere translations of variabilis ; as in France, Bdcasseau 

 variable ou brunette; in Germany, Veranderliche oder Alpui 

 Strandlaiifer ; in Sweden, Fordnderlig Strand-Vipa. 



166. PURPLE SAND-PIPER (Tringa maritima). 



This is another winter visitant to our shores, and generally 

 comes in large flocks where it finds a rocky coast suitable to its 

 taste : for it abhors the sand-banks and mud-flats so dear to the 

 greater number of its congeners. Hence it was once known as 

 the ' Rock Tringa/ I conclude it was called Maritima because 



* Ilia, 1859, p. 347 ; 1860, p. 80 ; 1861, p. 11 ; 1863, pp. 97, 132, 412. 



