THE PURPLE SANDPIPER. 
367 
Mr. Wolley has sent me eggs from the Feroe islands, 
from which the old bird was shot. He says, “ It breeds 
sparingly on the very tops of high mountains, where I 
found its young at the end of June still unable to fly. 
One pair, I remember particularly, was in the very midst 
of a colony of skuas; they stood upon large stones in 
an easy attitude, but evidently watching our movements. 
From this spot I have now for two years had their eggs." 
Eggs of this species scarcely differ in some of their varie¬ 
ties from those of the dunlin ; they are mostly larger 
altogether, broader across the middle, more convex in 
form from the middle to the smaller end, but it would 
not always be easy to separate them if mixed together. 
In colour they are often almost identical. Two of the 
eggs of the plate (figs. 1 and 3) are from Feroe, from the 
collection of Mr. Wolley; the middle figure is from the 
collection of Mr. Walter, and was selected from a nu¬ 
merous series sent from Greenland by Mr. Holboell. The 
three eggs would do very well as representatives of those 
of the black tern. 
B B 
