36
MEMORANDA ON THE PURPLE SANDPIPER.
mentioned his finding a Purple Sandpiper near to the Balta
Sound, in the act of attempting to swallow a small stone covered
with a vegetable substance. From this and collateral evidence
he draws the conclusion that they rasp the algae off for food by
their palatal papillae Such a thing possibly may occur. Still
I question his interpretation, seeing that sandy gravel and broken
shells, etc., are evidently triturating accessories to the digestive
process, and usually present in the stomach. Indeed, Patten,
in a recent work,7 states finding pebbles in the gizzard, five by
four millimetres in diameter (say equivalent to a dried split pea),
and Stevenson8 long years before mentions "aquatic snails and
small stones" as found in their stomach.
Some Habits.—In connection with the general habits of
this migrant within our district, our knowledge is indeed scanty.
Seldom as many as half-a-dozen, more often only one, two, or
three, have been seen together. The stone breakwater near
Harwich seems a favourite resort for them9; most probably
there to feed on the young, diminutive molluscs and crab tribe
lodged among the seaweed.
Elsewhere a few birds in scattered situations find a
temporary living among the drift on the sandy beaches, or such
flat places as are left partially dry at ebb-tide, but where in the
shallow pools their food is fairly abundant.
For example, one of our local shore shooters tells me that
some years back he saw one or a pair (?) of what he believes to
have been the Purple Sandpiper. When flushed by him,
apparently they were searching for food on the weed-grown
marshland, near Old Leigh. They at once hurry-scurried at a
low level along one of the little guts, or weedy runlets, leading
seaward, and were quickly lost sight of. Cordeaux's10 experience
of the bird places it in a different light, and is borne out by
others who have given it attention. A specimen he came across
seemed "absurdly tame," to quote his own expression. Though
quite close, he could not reach it by intervention of a strip of deep
water. It took no notice of shouts and waving of handkerchief,
nor of a shower of pebbles thrown at it. Fielden11 at the Faroe
Islands and Eaton12 at Spitzbergen both mention its absence of
7 Aquatic Birds of Great Britain and Ireland, Lond. (1906), p. 307.
8 Birds of Norfolk (1870), vol. ii.
9 F. Kerry in Zoologist, 1877, p. 52-
10 See Zoologist for 1875, p. 4205
11 Ibid., Oct. 1872. p. 3250.
12 Ibid.. 1874, p. 3809.