5o6 THE PURPLE SANDPIPER. 



No. 231. 



PURPLE SANDPIPER. 



A. O. U. No. 235. Arquatella maritima (Briinn.). 



Description. — Adult hi suinmer: Upper parts blackish, top of head streaked 

 with dull buffy, and the back and scapulars spotted and margined with the same ; 

 wings fuscous-gray, the greater coverts bordered, and secondaries narrowly 

 tipped with white; the innermost secondaries almost entirely white; upper tail- 

 coverts brownish dusky; tail fuscous centrally, brownish gray, lightened by 

 whitish edgings laterally; throat and breast light grayish brown streaked with 

 dusky; the chin, lower eye-lid, and remaining under parts white. "Legs, feet, 

 and bill at base light flesh-color; rest of . bill greenish black" (Coues). Adult in 

 zi'inter: Head and neck all around and well down sooty gray or mouse-brown; 

 the chin, lower eye-lid, and a space in front of and over eye whitening; remain- 

 ing upper parts brownish black, edged with sooty gray of neck (said to have 

 a purplish cast at times, but doubtful; we catch eagerly at faint characters in 

 the members of this so nearly homogeneous group) ; wing-coverts lighter fuscous, 

 and with considerable white edging; remaining under parts white, more or less 

 streaked with sooty gray on lower breast and sides. Young : "Above dusky, 

 the scapulars, interscapulars and wing-coverts bordered with pale buffy or whitish" 

 (Ridgw.). Length 8.00-9.50 (203.2-241.3); wing 5.00 (127.); tail 2.40 (61.); 

 bill 1.25 (31.8) ; tarsus i.oo (25.4). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size, but appearing larger; plain brownish 

 gray or sooty gray of breast probably most distinctive. Somewhat similar to 

 the Red-backed Sandpiper, in the shade and blend of color, but distinguished 

 from the latter by its darker back and its smaller, lighter bill. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground. Eggs, 3-4, olive- 

 buff or ashy brown, distinctly marked with large spots of rich umber brown, 

 chiefly about larger end. Av. size, 1.44 x 1.06 (36.6 x 26.9). 



General Range. — Northern portions of the northern hemisphere; in North 

 America chiefly in the northeast portions, breeding in the high north, migrating 

 in winter to the Eastern and Middle States (casually to Florida), the Great Lakes, 

 and the shores of the larger streams in the upper Mississippi Valley. 



Range in Ohio. — Very rare; one record on Lake Erie. 



THE responsibility of including this species in a list of Ohio birds still 

 rests with Mr. Winslow of Cleveland. It is, however, included by Thomas 

 Mcllwraith in his Birds of Ontario, on the basis of three or four specimens. 



The Purple Sandpiper is a strictly maritime species, being found in 

 winter by preference only on "a stern and rock-bound coast." It is very 

 sure-footed, and gleans fearlessly over the most slippery rocks amidst the 

 dashing of the spray. 



