i86 
British Birds. 
The Purple Sandpiper. 
of Northern Scotland, but no authentic 
instances of its nesting within British 
limits are known. It breeds, however, 
in the Arctic Regions of Europe and 
North-eastern America, and has re- 
cently been found nesting in Franz 
Josef Land by the Jackson-Harms- 
worth Expedition. It is easily recog- 
nised by its black rump and upper tail- 
coverts, and its white inner secondaries. 
In the winter plumage, in which the 
back is sooty black, there is a distinct 
tinge of purple, from which the bird gets its name. The summer plumage is 
very dull and has an admixture of rufous on the upper parts. The present species 
is found on rocky coasts and on the sea-shore, but it does not frequent mud-flats 
in the manner of a Dunlin. The nest is a depression in the moss, and the 
eggs are four in number, pear-shaped, like those of the Dunlin, but are larger, 
and measure about an inch-and-a-half in length. 
The tarsus in this species is longer, and exceeds the length 
of the middle toe. The bill is slightly curved downwards and is 
very slender. The Curlew Sandpiper is a regular autumn visitor 
to all our coasts, and on the return journey in spring a few 
red-plumaged birds also occur. Although found nearly all over 
the world in the winter season, the nesting-place of the Curlew Sandpiper 
remained a mystery until 1897, when Mr. H. L. Popham discovered the eggs at the 
mouth of the Yenesei. The nest was a 
depression in the ground and the eggs 
closely resembled those of the Purple 
Sandpiper. In its habits the present 
species is much like a Dunlin, from 
which it may be distinguished by its 
white rump and upper tail-coverts. 
Young birds, which are most frequently 
met with on our English coasts, have 
some buff-coloured edges to the feathers 
of the upper surface, and there is a tinge 
of buff on the fore-neck and breast, k 
Like the foregoin 
THE KNOT. 
(Trittga canutus.) 
THE CURLEW- 
SANDPIPER. 
(Ancylochilus 
subarquatns.) 
The Curlew-Sandpiper. 
species, the Knot is rufous in summer, 
and white underneath in winter, and the young birds are freckled 
with white margins to the feathers of the upper surface. The 
bill in the Knot is straight and somewhat widened at the end, and the middle 
