82 SCOLOPACTD.E. 



The flight of this bird is very quick and undulating, fre- 

 quently performed close to the water, even -when the waves 

 fo the sea run high ; at other times it flies in a straight line 

 at a great elevation, particularly when in company of many 

 of its species. The present species is the least shy of its 

 family, and it may be generally approached within a few 

 paces ; it is also exceedingly sociable with its own species, 

 but rarely seen in company with other Sandpipers, owing 

 to its peculiar locality and habits. 



The call-note of the Purple Sandpiper resembles that of 

 the swallow, and is very often repeated. 



Its food consists chiefly in shell-fish of the smallest di- 

 mensions, mollusca, and other marine productions, that are 

 washed upon the rocky shelves, and this accounts for the 

 manner in which the bird watches the receding waves at all 

 times on the rocky ground, among the crevices of which a 

 new supply is regularly produced. 



It may not be unworthy of notice to remark here, that the 

 sea coast of Holland is particularly well supplied with a 

 kind of bivalve shell-fish, which are collected among the 

 strong masonry before alluded to, and have thus provided a 

 table in the sandy wilderness for these periodical travellers. 

 The fact of their abundance is intruded upon the notice of 

 most persons visiting Holland, by means of the representa- 

 tions of figures and houses that are made at Scheveningen 

 of these shells, and offered to every passing traveller by 

 the fishermen. 



The present species is generally in excellent condition, 

 which may in a great measure be attributed to the immense 

 supply of food it finds at each turning of the tides, not 

 only in our moderate climates, but also in every part of 

 the world, whatever the climate may be. Even where 

 floating ice is to be found in mountains, marine pro- 



