TRINGA. 

 In the arctic regions of America this species is subject to considerable variation. 



429 



Variations. 



Tringa maritima, Brunnich, Orn. Bor. p. 54 (1764) ; Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 678 (1788). 



Tringa nigricanSj Montagu, Trans. Linn. Soc. iv. p. 40 (1798). 



Tringa canadensisj Latham, Index Orn. ii. Suppl. p. Ixv (1801). 



Totanus maritimus (Gmel.), Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. pt. i. p. 146 (1824). 



Trynga arquatella, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 190 (1826). 



Calidris maritima (Briinn.), Cuvier, R^gne An. i. p. 525 (1829). 



Arquatella maritima {Gmel.), Coues, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1861^ p. 183. 



Synonymy. 



Plates. — Gould, Birds Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 75 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii, pi. 554. 

 Habits. — Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 192. 

 Eggs. — Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 31. figs. 1, 2. 



Literature. 



The Purple Sandpiper may be diagnosed by two characters from all its congeners, 

 except the two which are doubtfully distinct from it. Tliese two characters are rump and 

 upper tail-coverts nearly hlach, seventh to ninth secondaries nearly all white. 



From the two forms which are probably not more than subspecifically distinct from it 

 this bird differs in the following particulars : — 



T. maritima. 

 Feathers of upper 



parts 

 in adult summer dress mostly 

 margined with white, a few 

 with chestnut and a few with 

 pale slate-grey. 



Breast-feathers in summer 

 slate-grey with white margins. 



White margins to all the feathers of the breast. 



1\ couesi. 



Feathers of upper parts 

 in adult summer dress mostly 

 margined with chestnut, a few 

 with white and a few with 

 pale slate-grey. 



T. ptilocnemis. 



Feathers of upper parts 

 in adult summer dress mostly 

 margined with pale chestnut, 

 a few with white and a few 

 with pale slate-grey. 



Outer web of primaries slate-grey, more or less narrowly 

 margined with white on the basal half of the four or five inner- 

 most. 



Length of wing 54 to Length of wing 5-2 to 



4-8 inch. 4-5 inch. 



Margins of breast-feathers in summer more or less buff. 



White margins of feathers 

 absent on sides of breast, thus 

 forming two dark patches. 



Basal half of outer web of 

 the four or five innermost 

 primaries white. 



Length of wing 5 '4 to 

 5*0 inch. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Subspecific 

 characters. 



The Purple Sandpiper might almost be regarded as a resident in the Circampolar Geographi- 

 Region. It is a summer visitor to North Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and the ^?^^'^'''"^''' 

 Taimyr Peninsula ; but in South Greenland, Iceland, the Faroes, and on the Norwegian 



