SCOLOPACIDAE—SANDPIPERS. 247
in the month of May, adding (37. iii. 399) that it has been occasionally met with
on the Essex coast.
Curlew Sandpiper: Tringa subarquata. Locally, " Little
Jack Curlew " (E.A.F.).
Not very uncommon on our coast as a spring and autumn migrant-
It is remarkable, as the only British Bird whose eggs still remain
undiscovered.
Sheppard and Whitear
met with it on Peewit Island
(9. 43). Mr. Clarke (24) re-
cords one killed at Bumpstead
on Feb. 2nd, 1832. Henry
Doubleday says (10) that in
1832 he saw in a Collection
at Colchester, a specimen ob-
tained on the adjacent coast.
He also says he shot several
at Walton-on-the-Naze on
Oct. 4th 1833. "A speci-
men, procured by the late
Mr. Doubleday of Epping,
was presented by him to the
British Museum" (Buxton
—47. 97), and is perhaps one of the above. Mr. Bond met with a few specimens
at Southend early in Sept., 1842 (23. 40). Among the birds left by the late Col.
Russell was a specimen in summer plumage killed in Essex—probably on Aug.
Ist., 1883, when he records shooting three from a flock of Dunlins. They were
in partial moult and another was seen (40. v. 52). Round Harwich, some are
seen every year, and it was " fairly common " in the autumn of 1889 (Kerry).
Mr. Hope observes that they are fairly plentiful amongst the " Oxbirds " on the
coast in September. Mr. Pettitt has one shot by his brother at Paglesham on
Aug. 29th, 1889.
Purple Sandpiper : Tringa striata.
A rather rare winter visitor to our coast.
Sheppard and Whitear " once observed a Sandpiper, which appeared to be-
long to this species, flying along the shore of the Stour, hovering like a bird of
prey, and continually darting down close to the ooze " (9. 43). Mr. W. H. Hill
of Southminster mentions (12. vi. p. 452) having twice seen it near that place
about 1833. Parsons shot one on the Saltings on New England Island, Nov. 25th,
1836, and his Collection contains another shot on the shore at Shoebury in Jan.,
1855 ; also a male in its first winter, having still a few feathers left of its first
plumage, shot on Southend beach on Nov. 10th, 1837. Dr. Bree notes one (32a)
shot at Mersea in Dec, 1869. Between the 6th and 10th of November, 1876,
seven were shot on the stone breakwater at Harwich (Kerry—40. 52). One was
shot near Walton-on-the-Naze early in November, 1879 (29. Nov. 8), and Mr. J.
Backhouse jun., shot three there out of a party of five in Dec, 1888. Mr. Hope,
who has a male shot on Dovercourt Breakwater on Nov. 14th, 1888, says they are
becoming " less common than formerly." Mr. Baxter has one shot on Canvey