SCOLOPACID^. 337 



on Lundy Island in June in the bright red summer dress, in which plumage 

 Col. Mathew has seen a few at the end of May by the side of the Bude 

 reservoir. The Curlew Sandpiper is rarely obtained in the West of Engiaud 

 in the winter plumage, and the only specimen we have ever been able 

 to secure was shot on a moor close to Taunton, a singular locality to meet 

 with one. It was solitary when it was observed, and had the nnderparts 

 pure white, the upper parts were ash-grey, chequered on the shoulders and 

 upper wing-coverts with spots of white, giving a hoary appearance, some- 

 what resembling the summer plumage of the Wood-Sandpiper. 



Specimens ia fiill breeding-pluiua2;e have been frequently obtained. Two are in the 

 A. M. M. shot on the Exe on September ISth, 1841, and in May 1867. Two in summer 

 plumage, shot on the estuary of the Exe, were in Mr. Byoe's collection : one of them 

 was killed in 1870. Two or three have been obtained in breeding-plumage at Plymouth, 

 where this species is not very rare in September and October, and is met with occasionally 

 throughout the winter in small numbers (R. A. J., 'Naturalist,' 1851, pp. 44, 59). 

 The Curlew Sandpiper was first obtained in the Kingsbridge district in 1875 ; and in 

 1878 many occurred on the estuary there and at Bantham. Since then none were met 

 with till August 18'J0, when it was unusually plentiful on the Kingsbridge estuary, and 

 continued so up to the middle of October (E. A. S. E., MS. Notes;. 



In Cornwall, and also in Dorsetshire, the Curlew Sandpiper is not 

 uncommon, being frequently obtained among flocks of Dunlin in the 

 autumn ; and the same may be stated respecting it on the north coast of 

 Somerset, in which county our experience does not accord with Mr. Cecil 

 Smith's statement that this Sandpiper is only a winter visitor, as we have 

 never seen but one example of it in the winter plumage — the one we have 

 already described. 



The Curlew Sandpiper doubtless breeds in the north of E,u.ssia and in 

 the far north in Asia ; but up to the present time its nesting-habits and 

 its eggs are quite unknown. 



Purple Sandpiper. Tringa striata, Linn. 



A winter visitor in small parties, frequenting the rocky parts of the 

 south coast, arriving annually in October or the beginning of November, 

 and remaining until rather late in tlie spring, though Mr. (iatcoml)enevei 

 met with a specimen in breeding-plumage (Zool. iyS2, p,4.j7). It is rare 

 on the north coast. 



The Purple Sandpiper is a winter visitor to our coasts from the north, 

 preferring a rocky to a sandy shore, and throughout our south-west counties 

 it is not uncommon in places suited to its habits, and may l)e seen running 

 about among the seaweed near the water's edge in search of marine insects. 

 On the sandy and muddy estuaries of the North Devon rivers it is only 

 occasionally met with among the Dunlin and other Trlnr/ce ; and the liev. 

 Marcus Itickards has informed us tliat he once came across a small ilock 

 on the Northam liurrows. We had one which was shot as it rose, like a 

 Snipe, on a salt-marsh close to Barnstaple. 



At Plymoutli it ia common amongst the Purros in winter, and lias been shot there 



Z 



