222 PURPLE SANDPIPER 
these Sandpipers were very pretty objects, the yellow of 
the beak and legs being distinctly seen, while the wings, 
which they raised to balance themselves, displayed the 
lighter colouring beneath, contrasting with the general dull 
grey of their plumage. This dark tint agreed admirably 
with the weedy surface of their feeding ground, so that their 
creeping, mouse-like motions alone betrayed them, or their 
low, weak calls, which sometimes mingled in a kind of 
conversational twittering as they moved in close company. 
They were extremely tame, allowing approach within a few 
yards, and then rising, usually only to settle again a few 
yards further away. From time to time this familiarity 
proved fatal, several, to my knowledge, being shot, while 
one was killed by a stone. When persistently annoyed by 
dogs. or some of the many passers-by, they flew out, 
like the Ringed Plovers of the adjoining sands under 
the same disturbance, to Conister, the isolated reef on 
which the ‘Tower of Refuge’ stands, and where they 
likely also spent the time of high tide. In 1889-90 I 
noticed only some half-dozen birds, but by 1893 at 
least fifteen frequented the place. After leaving Douglas 
in 1895 I had little opportunity of observing the flock, 
but it was seen again in 1898 by Mr. F. Nicholson, and 
on 3rd December 1903 I noticed a few birds at the 
usual spot. 
I never saw nor heard of others at Douglas, although the 
shore abounds in rocks similar to those so much resorted 
to by this flock. 
The species is found in limited numbers on the coast of Ire- 
land, including Antrim and Down; also on that of Galloway, 
and on the English shores of the Irish Sea, where, however, 
probably from the lack of rocks, it appears to be scarcer. 
It occurs on the coast of Carnarvon. It is pretty abundant 
in Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides, often lingering 
