TRINGA. 



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



429 



Variations. 



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



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



Tringa canadensis, Latham, Index Orn. ii. Sicppl. p. lxv (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, Rigne An. i. p. 525 (1829). 



Arquatella maritima {Gmel), Coues, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philacl. 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. 



Literal are. 



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



C \\ *1 T ft 1~ P T* ^ 



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

 upper tail-coverts nearly black, 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. 



T. couesi. 



Feathers of upper parts 

 in adult summer dress mostly 

 margined with chestnut, a few 

 with white and a few with 

 pale slate-grey. 



Marians of breast-feathers in 



White margins to all the feathers of the breast. 



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 



4-8 inch. 4 - 5 inch. 



wing 5'2 to 



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, 

 summer more or less buff. 



White margins o£ 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. 



Subspecific 

 characters. 



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

 Region. It is a summer visitor to North Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and the c ? 1 distnbu- 

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



