STINT, OR LITTLE SANDPIPER. 117 



the lower tail coverts with blackish lanceolate spots. Rump and the 

 two central tail feathers black, all the others ash, edged with white. 

 Bill black, reddish at base, 1 inch 2 lines measured from above ) in the 

 female often as much as a quarter of an inch longer. Legs and feet 

 ochre-yellow. Iris blackish, — In old individuals the violet and pur- 

 ple reflections are most lively. — In young birds the black of the 

 plumage is duller, with pale rufous edgings, and the wing coverts 

 broadly edged with white ; with large longitudinal spots upon the 

 flanks and abdomen. The base of the bill and feet also pale yellow- 

 ish. Summer jAumage. — Summit of the head, back, mantle and 

 scapulars, violet black, the. feathers bordered and tipt by a wide edg- 

 ing of pure white, or touched laterally with a tinge of rufous. Fore 

 part of the neck, breast, and vent, marked with blackish oval and 

 lanceolate spots upon a greyish-white ground, appearing in longitu- 

 dinal stripes upon the tail coverts ; middle of the abdomen pure white. 



STINT, OR LITTLE SANDPIPER. 



(Tringa pusiUa,hiy. Gmel. Syst. ii. p. Gdl. Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 

 iv. p. 308. Lath. Ind. ii. p. 738. 8. [excl. syn. Wilson, et Bon- 

 AP.] Little Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Diet. Fleming. Brit. Anim. p. 

 108. Little Stint, or Least Snipe, Bewick, Brit. Birds, ii. pp. 122. 

 Brown Sandpiper, Brit. Zool. ii. No. 195. Tringa Temviinckii, 

 Leisler, Nachtr. zu Bechst. Naturg. Deut. Hept. i. p. C5, 9, 70, 

 73. Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 622. et PI. Color. 41. fig. 1.) 



Sp. Charact. — Bill shorter than the head, nearly straight; rump 

 blackish ; feathers of the tail graduated, one or two of the outer 

 pure 2chite. — Summer pbimage black, varied with rufous, beneath 

 except the breast, white. Winter dress, ashy-brown, beneath 

 principally white. 



This small species, the Little Stint, subsequently dedi- 

 cated to one who has so well elucidated the history of these 

 variable and protean birds, is again a common inhabitant 

 of the Arctic circle throughout the northern hemisphere, 

 from whence after the breeding season, accumulating in hun- 

 gry flocks, they abandon for a while their natal regions, and 



