P U R P L E S A N D P IP E R .
PURPLE SANDPIPER.
TRINGA STRIATA, Linn.
Tringa striata, Linn. S. N. i. p. 248 (1766); Yarr. ed. 4,
iii. p. 408; Dresser, viii. p. 69.
Tringa maritima, Naum. vii. p. 467; Macg. iv. p'. 197 ;
Hewitson, ii. p. 366.
Becasseau violet, French; See-Strandlaufer, German.
This bird is not uncommon on our coasts during the
autumn, winter, and early spring, but it has not been
as yet positively ascertained to breed in any part of
the British Islands. My own acquaintance with the
Purple Sandpiper is very scanty, being entirely confined
to a few rocky localities in Wales and the west of
Ireland. In the latter part of the world I found two of
these birds late in June; and I firmly believe that they
had eggs in the close neighbourhood of the spot about
which I constantly saw them; but the continued swell
that broke upon the coast rendered a landing always
difficult, and often impossible, and I was obliged to
content myself with an unproven inward conviction.
In other localities I have generally met with this species