THE PURPLE SANDPIPER, 261 



Length to end of tail 9i inches, to end of wings 9%; to end of claws 10^; 

 extent of wings IS; wing from flexure 5{|; tail 2^; bill along the ridge H, 

 along the edge of lower mandible 1 T 2 2; bare part of tibia V, tarsus lyf , mid- 

 dle toe %, its claw yV Weight 6 oz. 



Adult Female in summer. 



The female, which is a little larger, is similar to the male. 



Mouth very narrow, its width 2| twelfths. Palate with two rows of 

 reversed papillae. Tongue very slender, tapering, channelled above, 11 

 twelfths long. (Esophagus 4j inches long, its average width 2| twelfths; 

 proventriculus 3^ twelfths. Stomach oblique, roundish, 10 twelfths long, 9 

 twelfths in breadth; its lateral muscles large; epithelium dense, longitudi- 

 nally rugous. Contents of stomach remains of small Crustacea, seeds, and 

 fragments of quartz. Intestine 11^ inches long, 1| twelfths wide; cceca li 

 inches long, 1 twelfth in width, 1 inch 5 twelfths distant from the extremity; 

 rectum 2 twelfths in width, slightly dilated at the end. Trachea 3^ inches 

 long, 2 twelfths in breadth, much flattened; the rings 102, slender, unossified. 

 Bronchi wide, of about 12 half rings. Muscles as in the other species of 

 this family. Male. 



THE PURPLE SANDPIPER. 



-aTringa maritima, Brunn. 

 PLATE CCCXXX.— Adult in Summer and in Winter. 



I am surprised that my worthy friend Thomas Nuttall speaks of this 

 species as being scarcely ever seen in the United States, where, to my know- 

 ledge, it is on the contrary very abundant, and nowhere more so than in the 

 neighbourhood of the Harbour of Boston, in the markets of which city it is 

 sold in autumn and winter. When I was there, a gunner whom I employed 

 brought me several dozens, which he had killed in the course of a single 

 afternoon. I have also seen some in the markets of New York. Farther 

 south, however, they are rarely met with. 



Timid though not shy, they are seen in flocks of eight or ten, on the 

 rocky shores of the sea. They seem to shun sandy beaches, and seldom 



Vol. V. 36 



