THE PURPLE SANDPIPERS. 
237 
of dull white on the lores and behind the eye ; eyelid whitish ; 
sides of face, throat, and fore-neck sooty-brown, the chin whiter; 
breast and abdomen, as well as the under tail-coverts, white, 
the breast and sides of the body mottled with dusky-brown 
centres to the feathers, the flanks streaked with the same colour ; 
axillaries and under wing-coveits pure white ; quill-lining ashy- 
grey. Total length, 7-5 inches; culmen, I'a; wing, 4'9 ; tail, 
2-1 ; tarsus, 0-85. 
Tonng Birds. — Resemble the winter plumage of the adults, 
but are distinguished by the white fringes to the feathers of the 
upper surface, especially on the wing-coverts, scapulars, and 
inner secondaries ; the chest and sides of the body more 
plentifully mottled with spots of dusky-black. 
Adaita in Summer Plumage.— Differ from the winter plumage in 
being browner below and not so ashy, the fore-neck being either 
uniform brown or mottled with spots of black, the upper breast 
and sides of the body being also thickly spotted with black. 
The upper surface is black, with rufous margins to the feathers 
instead of ashy or wliitish ones; bill dark brown, paler at the 
base ; feet dull yellow ; claws black ; iris hazel. 1 otal length, 
8-5 inches; culmen, 1-5 ; wing, 5'2 ; tail, 2-15; tarsus, 0-95. 
Characters.— The Purple Sandpiper can always be distin- 
guished by its black rump and upper tail-coverts, combtned 
with the white inner secondaries. 
Range in Great Britain. — The present species inhabits the 
coasts of Great Britain during winter, but is everywhere rather 
local and is more common in some years than others. Like 
other waders, individuals of the Purple Sandp per have been 
known to remain in Great Britain during summer, and these 
doubtless have been non-breeding birds. Indeed, the species 
has been credibly supposed to have bred within our limits, 
as Mr Howard Saunders says “ Young scarcely able to fly 
have been obtained on the Fame Islands, where they are sup- 
posed to have been hatched ; while adults h.avc been observed 
in the Outer Hebrides and other northern localities as late as 
the end of May. There is even strong presumptive evidence 
that the bird nests on the high ground in the Shetlands, though 
identified eggs have not yet been obtained. On the rugged 
