NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 267 



Range of egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the American Pectoral Sandpiper are four 

 in number. They are pyriform in shape, smooth in 

 texture, and vary in ground colour from pale olive-brown 

 to pale buff, spotted and blotched with rich reddish- 

 brown, and with underlying markings of gray. As 

 usual most of the largest markings are on the major 

 half of the Ggg, where they are often confluent ; the pale 

 underlying markings are also conspicuous and well 

 defined. Average measurement, 1*5 inch in length, by 

 ri inch in breadth. The duration of the period of 

 incubation is unknown, as is also which sex performs 

 the task. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of this Sand- 

 piper closely resemble those of the American Stint in 

 colour, but are much larger in size. They cannot readily 

 be confused with those of any other species breeding in 

 this area. 



Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Tringa. 



Sub-family SCOLOFACINyE. 



LITTLE STINT. 



Tringa minuta, Leisler. 



(British : Fairly common spring and autumn coasting migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter half of June, and early 



in July. 



Breeding area : North-western Pal?earctic region. 

 The Little Stint breeds somewhat locally on the tundras 

 above the limits of forest growth from Northern Scandi- 

 navia eastwards to the Taimyr peninsula. It has been 

 found nesting at Kistrand, in Northern Norway, on the 



