TRINGINiE. TRINGA. 
67 
and depositing four pyriform spotted eggs. The food, ob- 
tained by probing, consists of insects, worms, and small tes- 
taceous mollusca. The winter plumage differs in colour from 
that of the breeding season. The males are considerably 
smaller than the females. 
177. Tringa Canutus. Ash-coloured Sandpiper. 
Bill straight, a little longer than the head, its tip consider- 
ably dilated ; tail even ; tarsus an inch and two-twelfths long. 
In winter, the plumage ash-grey above, white beneath, the 
neck and sides streaked with dusky. In summer the back 
glossy black, variegated with yellowish-red, the fore neck and 
breast yellowish-red. Young grey above, each feather on 
the back with a double marginal band of black and white. 
Bill of adult greyish-black, its basal margins reddish ; feet 
greyish-blue, the tarsal joint and soles green, claws black. 
Male, 10 J, 20, 6^%, l T %, 1 T ^, T V Female, 10ff, 22. 
This species arrives from the north in the beginning of 
September, and returns in the end of April or beginning of 
May. It occurs in flocks on all our shores, chiefly on sands 
and the margins of estuaries. It breeds in the northern re- 
gions of both continents, living in summer in the marshes. 
Its food consists of worms, Crustacea, mollusca, and insects. 
Bed-breasted Sandpiper. Bed Sandpiper. Knot. 
Tringa Canutus, and Islandica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 281.—- 
Tringa Canutus, Islandica, cinerea, grisea, and nsevia, Lath. 
Ind. Ornith. ii. 737, 738. — Tringa cinerea, Temm. Man. 
d’Ornith. ii. 627. — -Tringa Canutus, Ash-coloured Sandpiper, 
MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iv. 
178. Tringa maritima. Purple Sandpiper. 
Bill a little longer than the head, and slightly decurved at 
the end ; tail with the middle feathers considerably longer, 
the three lateral nearly equal ; tarsus ten-twelfths long, 
shorter than the middle claw ; bill dusky, orange at the base, 
and on part of the ridge ; feet ochre-yellow ; scarcely any bare 
space on the tibia. In winter, the upper parts glossy pur- 
plish-black, the feathers margined with light grey ; the head, 
cheeks, sides, and fore part of the neck light purplish-grey, 
the sides and lower tail-coverts streaked with the same ; the 
throat, part of the breast, and abdomen, white. In summer, 
the upper parts glossy purplish-black, the feathers on the 
head margined with pale red, on the neck with light grey, 
