Teinga. BIRDS. PRESSIROSTRES. 109 



Linn. Syst. i. 232 Little Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Diet. App — T. Tem- 



minckii, Tern. Orn. ii. 622". — A rare winter visitant. 

 Length 6 inches; weight 6 drams. Bill fths of an inch long, slender, 

 slightly deflected towards the extremity, and, with the feet, brown. Irides 

 dusky. Plumage, above, black with red margins ; below, cinereous red with 

 black streaks, the throat, belly, and under tail-covers, white. Quills dusky, 

 margined with white. Tail of twelve feathers, the two middle dusky, the 

 next on each side cinereous, with reddish margins ; the two or three exterior 

 feathers pure white. In winter the plumage above is brownish, with darker 

 streaks. The young are more inclined to cinereous above — This species, 

 which is well described by Montagu, from a specimen shot in November on a 

 salt-marsh, near the sea in Devonshire, has probably been confounded with 

 the preceding. The character of the tail identifies it with the Linnean spe- 

 cies, and renders unnecessary the new trivial name which Leister proposed, 

 and which Temminck has too hastily adopted. 



155. T. minuta. — Tail doubly forked, the lateral feathers 



greyish brown, with white margins. 



Little Sandpiper, Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. 473 — Little Stint, Bewick's Brit. 



Birds, ii. 122 Little Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Diet. Supp. Temm. Orn. 



ii. 624 A rare winter visitant. 



Size the same as the preceding, with this difference, that M. Temminck as- 

 signs 8 lines as the length of the tarsus of the pusilla, and 10 to the minuta. Bill 

 and legs black. The crown black, with red spots. Plumage, above, black witli 

 red margins ; below, the sides of the neck and breast are red, with angular 

 brown spots ; the middle of the breast, throat, belly and lateral upper tail- 

 covers white. The rump and two middle tail-feathers black, the lateral ones 

 greyish-brown with white margins. In winter the plumage above is cine- 

 reous, with brownish-black streaks at the shafts ; the two middle tail-feathers 

 brown. The young nearly resemble the winter garb of the old birds. The 

 margins of the scapulars and wing-covers incline more to white. An exami- 

 nation of the descriptions of the British writers, quoted above, seems to 

 point out, very obviously, their connection with this species of Temminck, to 

 which they are here referred. They all agree nearly in size, and in the co- 

 lour of the rump and tail ; characters which mark the distinction between this 

 species and the pusilla. In all, however, the form of the tail is not mentioned, 

 which is said to be doubly forked, or to have the middle and external feathers 

 of the same length, the intermediate ones on each side shorter. 



156. T. Canutus. Knot. — Bill straight, much enlarged at 



the end ; the tail-feathers of equal length, cinereous with a 



white margin. 



Knot, Will. Orn. 224 T. Can. (Calidris and Islandica), Linn. Syst. ii. 



251-2. and App — Bed Sandpiper (T. Islandica), Ash-coloured Sand- 

 piper (T. cinerea), Aberdeen Sandpiper, and Knot, Penn. Brit. Zool. 

 ii. 469, 462, and 461 T. cinerea, Temm. Orn. ii. 627 — A winter visi- 

 tant. 



Length 10, breadth 19 inches ; weight 5 oz. Bill 1J inches in length, green- 

 ish black ; the feet of the same colour. The hind toe, according to Captain 

 Sabine (App. Parry's 1st Voy. cci.) turns inwards, as in that of the turnstone. 

 Irides brown. Plumage, above, black, bordered with red, with oval spots of the 

 same colour on the scapulars ; below brownish red, the belly white, with red 

 and black spots. Quills dusky, edged with white. Tail-feathers dusky ash, 

 edged with white ; the upper covers white, with black bars and red spots. 

 Willoughby states, that the outer tail-feathers are white. In winter the 

 plumage above is cinereous, with brown streaks, and below white, with dusky 

 streaks on the breasts and sides. In the young there is more cinereous above 



