purple sandpiper

American  

noun

1. a sandpiper, Calidris maritima, of Arctic regions of the New and Old World, having in winter a slate-gray back with purplish reflections.

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Etymology

Origin of purple sandpiper

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

The purple sandpiper lays its four or five eggs in a pretty little nest of dry straw on open grassy or mossy plains a little distance from the sea.

From The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II by Leslie, Alexander, fl. 1879-1882

In the company of the purple sandpiper there is often seen a somewhat larger wader, or, more correctly, a bird intermediate between the waders and the swimming birds.

From The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II by Leslie, Alexander, fl. 1879-1882