Purple Sandpiper - 1894

Tringa striata

An autumn visitor; not uncommon.

Mr. Tracy writes : "Rather scarce;" but Mr. Dix considered it "about as numerous as the Knot." This species is never to be met with in large flocks, and but seldom is seen on the sands or oozes. Anyone who wants to meet with it must search the pebbly shores, on the rocks just above the water's edge, where two or three of these Sandpipers may be found running briskly along hunting for food.

Even in places where it is not uncommon, the Purple Sandpiper does not appear to be often shot, and it is very rarely brought in to the birdstuffers. It is not in Mr. Mathias' list. From its habit of running at the base of the cliffs among the rocks, with whose tints the colour of its plumage greatly corresponds, this bird may easily escape observation, and only a naturalist familiar with its habits would be competent to detect it.

Mathew M.A. 1894, Birds of Pembrokeshire and it's Islands