PURPLE SANDPIPER 221 
In September 1882 I observed a small party on the 
rocks at Port St. Mary, near what is now the base of the 
Alfred Pier. On 27th February 1883 Mr. Crellin, as 
recorded by Mr. Kermode, shot a specimen at Orrisdale. 
Mr. Baily (Y. L. M, I. ii. p. 83) notes also a pair at 
Langness on 13th April 1889, and has shot a specimen 
on the rocks at Scarlett. In the Castletown neighbourhood 
I did not myself meet with the Purple Sandpiper till 
February 1905, when I observed a little party of six on 
the same Scarlett rocks. The coast at this place is a 
platform of bare volcanic ash, grey-green in colour, out 
of which rise loftier masses of dark. basaltic rock, and 
which drops to the sea in a low cliff, often beaten by 
a strong surf. On the surface are little shallow pools. 
The birds feed and rest on the edge of the crags and 
among the little basins, just within reach of the sprinkling 
of the spray, and exhibit the usual trustful familiarity of 
the species. Mr. Kermode mentions that he used to 
notice this Sandpiper as a winter bird at Port Lewaigue. 
Mr. T. H. Nelson tells me that he and Mr. Bacon saw 
a pair at Spanish Head in May 1896. For a number of 
years, from 1889 to 1905, I noted a small flock of the 
species regularly. during the colder months in Douglas Bay, 
which they inhabited continuously, my earliest recorded 
date being 9th November, and my latest 11th April. On 
the sands under the town is a little bar of rocks, running 
at right angles with the line of the tide, and covered at high 
water. The birds invariably frequented the little reef while 
it was uncovered, eagerly moving out along it as the water 
ebbed, wading and sometimes swimming through the pools, 
and alighting on little isolated pieces of rock on which they 
clustered like bees, while at times only the floating weed 
about them showed the presence of foothold. In such 
positions, though not so gracefully formed as the Dunlin, 
