Bygone birding: artist John James Audubon was taken by surprise when purple sandpipers landed almost at his feet

                                           

Timid but not shy - Audubon's purple sandpipers

Extract from The Birds of America: from Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories (1841) by John James Audubon:

I am surprised that my worthy friend Thomas Nuttall speaks of this species as being scarcely ever seen in the United States where, to my knowledge, it is, on the contrary, very abundant.

Nowhere is this more so than in the harbour of Boston in the markets of which city it is sold in autumn and winter. 

Timid, though not shy, they are seen in flocks of eight or ten on the rocky shores of the sea. 

They seem to shun sandy beaches and seldom advance far inland.

While I was on the Bay of Fundy (in Canada), I observed numerous small flocks winging their way northwards in the month of May. 

On one occasion, a flock alighted almost at my feet so that I was obliged to maintain a proper distance before shooting at them.

                                          

Well camouflaged - this purple sandpiper on a beach in Lincolnshire