visits our shores irregularly in company with other small waders in autumn, wandering occasionally to Eastern America and Alaska, and migrating to Cape Colony, India, and Tasmania. _T. fuscicollis_, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, with white upper tail-coverts, but dusky rump and short bill, inhabits Arctic America, reaching the whole of South America in winter, and even straying to Britain. It has also occurred in Franz Josef Land in summer. It somewhat resembles the Dunlin in appearance, and the Purple Sandpiper in habits. The closely allied _T. bairdi_ of nearly all America, which breeds towards the North, is distinguished by the median tail-coverts being brownish; it has once been observed in South Africa. Another dark-rumped species is _T. maculata_, the Pectoral Sandpiper, blackish-brown and rufous above, and buff with dusky streaks beneath, the belly being white. It has occurred several times in Britain, but inhabits the "Barren Grounds" from Alaska to Hudson's Bay, and migrates as far as Patagonia. Four greenish-buff eggs with brown blotches are deposited in dry grassy spots. {281}The male is especially remarkable for his habit, apparently unique in the Family, of inflating the oesophagus during his courting performances, until it hangs down like a bag; meanwhile he takes short flights or rises with stiffened wings in the air, uttering a muffled booming note.[188] The Old World form, _T. acuminata_, extends from East Siberia to Alaska, migrating to the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand; it differs in its white chin and distinctly streaked flanks. _T. maritima_ or _striata_, the Purple Sandpiper, is brownish-grey above, with rufous spotting on the blacker mantle, and some white on the wing; the throat and breast are greyish with dusky streaks, the abdomen is white. In winter, when the upper parts are purplish-black and the breast is unspotted, it occurs from Scandinavia and temperate America to the Mediterranean and the Bermudas, arriving in Britain later than its congeners, and frequenting spray-washed, seaweed-covered rocks in search of small molluscs. It is usually tame, can swim well, and utters a soft low note. The eggs, often of a very green ground-colour, are deposited in mossy or grassy places on hill-tops, from the Färoes northwards, though in the more Arctic regions of Europe and Eastern America the bird breeds at the sea-level. It nests in Franz Josef Land, but is rare in Asia. The Prybilof Island form has been called _T. ptilocnemis_, the Alaskan _T. couesi_. _T. canutus_, the Knot, possibly, but not probably, named after Canute, has in summer a reddish head and neck, black, cinnamon, and white upper parts, chestnut under surface, and white tail-coverts barred with black. The plumage varies greatly according to age and season, but the winter adult is grey above and white with dusky flecks below. While no absolutely identified eggs exist, this species