262 
THE PURPLE SANDPIPER. 
advance far inland. While I was on the Bay of Fundy, I observed numerous 
small flocks winging their way northward, in the month of May. On one 
occasion, a flock alighted almost at my feet, so that I was obliged to retire 
to a proper distance before shooting at them. 
Their flight is pretty rapid, and when necessary sustained, for I have ob 
served them flying in compact bodies across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
When started along the shores, they emit a-feeble weet, which is repeated 
two or three times, take a sweep over the water, and return to the same spot 
or near it, somewhat in the manner of the Spotted Sandpiper. They are 
generally very busy while searching for food, run nimbly with the body 
lowered on the legs, which are much bent, go to the edge of the water, seize 
on small shell-fish, shrimps and worms, and search industriously among the 
sea-weeds for marine insects. Their marked predilection for rocky shores 
has caused them to be named “ Rock Snipes ” by the gunners of our eastern 
coast. In autumn and winter the young birds become fat, and afford delicate 
eating. 
I was sadly disappointed at not finding them breeding on any part of the 
coast of Labrador which I visited, the more so because Dr. Richardson 
says they are abundant on the shores of Hudson’s Bay, where they breed. 
He gives no description of the nest or localities on which they deposit their 
eggs, which are said to be “pyriform, I62 lines long, and an inch across at 
their greatest breadth. Their colour is yellowish-grey, interspersed with 
small irregular spots of pale brown, crowded at the obtuse end, and rare at 
the other.” 
Tringa maritima, Bonap. Syn., p. 318. 
Tringa maritima, Purple Sandpiper , Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 382. 
Purple sandpiper, Tringa maritima , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 558. 
Male 9 i, 14 f. 
Abundant from Maine to New York, in autumn and spring. Breeds in 
Hudson’s Bay, and on Melville Island. 
Adult in summer. 
Bill longer than the head, almost straight, subulate, compressed at the 
base, flexible ; upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight, being' 
slightly deflected towards the end, the ridge narrow and convex, towards the 
end broader, the sides sloping, the edges rather obtuse. Nostrils basal, 
lateral, linear ; nasal groove extending to near the end of the bill. Lower 
mandible with the angle long and very narrow, the dorsal line beyond it 
slightly concave, the sides sloping upwards with a narrow groove, the tip 
rounded. 
