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Knot — Part 2
Images coming soon.
The Purple Sandpiper, Winter or Rock Snipe (Tringa maritima), an extremely northern species, also observed by General Greely near Thank God Harbor, comes down our Atlantic coast between November and March, but not often farther than Long Island or the Great Lakes. Like the Pilgrim Fathers, it chooses to dwell on a "stern and rock bound coast." It is wonderfully sure-footed in running over the slippery bowlders dashed by the spray, picking its food as it goes from among the algae attached to the rocks. It is nine inches long, and in its winter plumage--the only dress we see--the purplish gloss on the black feathers of its back, worn in summer, is not visible. Instead, it is a uniform lustrous ash on its head, neck, breast, and sides. The back, which is a dingy olive brown, has the feathers margined with ash. The wings are the same shade, but the coverts and some of the long feathers are distinctly bordered with white; linings of the wings and under parts are white; the upper tail coverts and middle tail feathers are blackish; the outer feathers, ashy.