NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 271 



frequently a short distance inland, on the margins of 

 the lakes and pools. Of the pairing habits of this bird 

 I find nothing recorded, but they doubtless do not differ 

 from those of allied species. The nest, which is merely 

 a slight hollow lined with a little withered grass and 

 dead leaves, is often made under the shelter of a small 

 bush. The female is described as being very tame and 

 trustful at the nest, but sometimes tries to allure an 

 intruder away from its vicinity by feigning lameness. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the American Stint are four in number. 

 They are pyriform in shape, smooth in texture, and 

 vary from pale buff to pale olive in ground colour, 

 spotted and blotched with reddish-brown and dark 

 brown, and with underlying markings of paler brown 

 and gray. They appear, so far as is known, to cover 

 exactly the same range of colour variation as those of 

 the Little Stint and Temminck's Stint. Average mea- 

 surement, ro inch in length, by '8 inch in breadth. In- 

 cubation is performed chiefly by the female, but the 

 duration of the period is unknown. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of this Stint 

 closely resemble those of the allied species, but are a 

 little smaller than those of Temminck's Stint. The 

 locality, if it can be thoroughly relied upon, should be 

 sufficient to identify the eggs of the American Stint. 



