THE CURLEW-SANDPIPERS. 
239 
ming at the base of the rocks on which their companions were 
searching for food. It never seems to dive, however, except 
when wounded. Sometimes, when flushed, it been known 
to alight on the water several yards from shore. _ The food of 
the kirple Sandpiper is composed of marine insects, small 
crustaceans and molluscs, and the seeds of several shore-plants. 
It obtains most of its food as the tide comes in or ebbs, 
usually sitting on the rocks at high water, pluming itself, bask- 
ing in the sun, and waiting for the sea to go dowm again. 1 e 
flight of the Purple Sandpiper is rapid, but not usually 
very high. Sometimes it skims along for a short distance, 
hovers in the air, or runs along the ground with "’mgs out- 
spread over its back. The note of this bud somewhat re- 
sembles that of the Common Sandpiper : it is loud, clear, and 
sLill, and often repeated, but very difficult to express on paper 
La kind oiince, not unlike the note of the House-Martin, but 
louder.” 
Kest. A slight depression, lined with a little moss or dried 
grass. 
Eaes.— Four in number, pear-shaped, and resembling the 
e^rgs of the Dunlin, from which, however, they can be 
distffiguished by their larger size. The variation in the tint 
of the ground-colour is just as marked as in that specie^, 
Se coloL ranging from greenish stone-grey to brownish clay- 
colour or even reddish-brown. The spots are redihsh-bi own, 
SnLTimes inclining to black, and are thickly di^ributcd over 
the eggs, in the same manner as m those of the Dunlin. Axis, 
inch; diam., i‘o-ri 
the CURLEW-SANDriTERS. GENUS ANCYLOCIIILUS. 
Ancylochei/us, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 50 (1829). 
Type, A. suharcuatiis (Giildenst.). 
In i^eneral appearance the Curlew-Sandpiper— for there is 
nnlv one representative of the genus Aficy/ocM/us—\s very like 
a Dunlin and as in the genus Felidna, the bill is longer than 
the tarsus. The shape of the bill, however, is different, being 
very long and slender and tapering to a point, without any 
