268 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Kola peninsula in Lapland, the delta of the Petchora in 



Russia, may probably do so on the Waigats and Nova 



Zembla, and is known to breed on theYalmal peninsula, 



in the valley of the Yenesay, and on the Taimyr peninsula. 



Breeding habits : The Little Stint arrives at its 



breeding grounds in June, with the departure of winter, 



the exact date of its appearance varying locally owing 



to the state of the season. It migrates in flocks, but 



these disperse at the nesting places, although the bird 



is certainly a social one all through the summer, and 



several nests may frequently be found quite close 



together. Of the pairing habits of this bird nothing 



is known. This is not the fault of the two British 



naturalists who discovered its breeding grounds in the 



Petchora Valley in 1875, but the misfortune of their 



arriving at them too late, when the birds had already 



paired. The first naturalist to discover the nest and 



eggs of the Little Stint was Middendorff, who obtained 



them on the Taimyr peninsula in Northern Siberia, 



nearly fifty years ago. In 1875 Messrs. Seebohm and 



Harvie Brown found the breeding grounds of this Stint 



in Northern Russia, at the delta of the Petchora. In 



1876 Finsch got a nest on the Yalmal peninsula; Hencke 



states that he has taken the nest near Archangel ; Mr. 



Rae got another nest on the Kola peninsula ; whilst the 



Swedish naturalist, CoUett, found eggs near Kistrand 



in the Porsanger Fjord in Northern Norway. Mr. 



Seebohm has also obtained eggs of this Stint in the 



valley of the Yenesay in 1877. At the mouth of the 



Petchora the breeding grounds of the Little Stint were 



situated on a comparatively dry and gently sloping 



part of the tundra, close to the inland sea, at the mouth 



of the great river. Here the tundra was thickly studded 



with tussocks of grass, and the swampy ground was 



almost concealed by cotton grass. These grass tufts 



