PURPLE SANDPIPER, 
135 
shores of the Baltic, and on similar coasts of the Mediter- 
ranean, in the West of England, and around Hudson Bay, 
these birds are common. In Russia, Siberia, and Iceland 
they are also found, but less frequently. In the warmer parts 
of America they are rare. Leaving the inclement coasts of 
their nativity, they proceed probably by Greenland, and mi- 
grate directly to the rocky coasts of Norway, and in the course 
of the winter visit for a while the colder parts of Europe. 
According to Dr. Richardson, they breed abundantly on the 
shores of Hudson Bay, as well as in that coldest and most 
desolate of boreal climates, Melville Peninsula, laying the usual 
number of eggs, which are of a pyriform figure sixteen and a 
half lines long, and an inch across at the larger end. They are 
yellowish gray, interspersed with small irregular spots of pale 
hair-brown, more abundant at the larger end, and rare at 
the other. This bird is seldom seen inland or on the borders 
of rivers, where its appearance is accidental ; its piping note is 
very similar to that of other species ; is not shy, often caught 
in snares, and the flesh accounted palatable. 
The Purple Sandpiper is an abundant bird along the shores of 
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during the winter months, ap- 
pearing in large flocks, and feeding on the rocks and the stony 
beaches. So large are the flocks, and so compactly do the birds 
rise when flushed, that I have known sixty-five to be killed at one 
shot. 
In Massachusetts this bird is rather uncommon, and is seen only 
in small groups of three or four, and similar groups are occasion- 
ally seen on the shores of the Great Lakes. 
Mr. Hagenip reports that a few individuals remain in Greenland 
during the winter months. 
