392 PURPLE SANDPIPER. 



beginning of the back, and another on each side ; the long feathers of 

 the breast and rump are variagated with ferruginous. 



This species is very rare in Holland, and all the northern parts of 

 Europe, where it only occurs accidentally. It builds its nest among 

 the reeds under the bank of the lakes and rivers, or in the coppice or 

 brushwood of the marshes and fens, in which it lays three eggs, of an 

 ashy-green colour. It is more abundant towards the south; on the con- 

 fines of Asia and Africa, they are met with in great numbers.* 



PURPLE SANDPIPER {Tringa maritima, Brunnicii.) 



Tringa nigricans, Linn. Trans. 4. p. 40. t. 2 Tringa Striata, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 



672 Briss. & Retz. p. 182 Laih. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 733 Totanus striatus, 



Briss. 5. p. 196. 5.— Ib. 8vo. 11. p. 263. -Le Chavalier Raye, Buff. Oh. 7. p. 



516. — Striated Sandpiper, Arct. Zool. 11. No. 383 Lath. Syn. 5. p. 176 



Purple Sandpiper, Wale. Syn. 2. t. 155 Flem.Br. Anim. p. 110 Sea Sand- 

 piper, Linn. Trans. 4. p. 22. t. 1 1 — Tringa Maritima, Brunti. Orn. Bor. p. 182. 

 — Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 619. — Selninger Sandpiper, Lath. Syn. 5. p. 173. 

 15 ?— Ind. Orn. 2. p. 731. 18 ?_Arct. Zool. 2. p. 480. C. 



This species rather exceeds the dunlin in size; the length eight 

 inches and a half. The bill is slender, an inch and a quarter long, 

 tapering towards the point, a very little curved, and of a dull red- 

 colour, except at the apex and sides, which are dusky ; irides hazel ; the 

 head and neck dusky black ; eyelids whitish ; the throat white ; back 

 and scapulars black, glossed with purple and edged with ash-colour ; 

 the wing coverts black, tipped with white; the larger ones above the 

 primores deeply so ; quills black, slightly edged with white on the ex- 

 terior webs, except three of the secondaries, which are almost wholly 

 white ; these, with the white-tipped coverts, form a slight oblique bar 

 on the wing when extended ; the shafts white ; breast and all beneath 

 white, prettily spotted with black, except the middle of the belly and 

 vent ; the rump, coverts of the tail, and four middle tail feathers, black, 

 glossed like the back ; the other tail feathers light cinereous ; in all 

 twelve ; the legs and toes dull red ; claws black and blunt ; toes nearly 

 divided to their origin ; middle toe an inch long. 



This bird was killed at Laugharne, on the coast of Caermarthenshire, 

 in January, in company with the dunlin ; two others were shot there 

 the same winter, and were called by the fishermen red-legs ; but these 

 did not come under our inspection. The one from which the above 

 description is taken, is now in our collection. We have since been fa- 

 voured with the skin of one from Mr. Boys, of Sandwich, which was 

 killed on that coast in the winter of 1799. It corresponded exactly 

 with the above, except that the bill was rather longer and straight, 

 and the breast more dusky. 



