8i8 NESTS AND EGGS OF AVSTRAUAN BIKDS. 



after its amval its nesting duties are commenced. Probably the first 

 authentic eggs of the Sanderling were obtained by Macfarlane on the 

 ban-en ground close to the shore of the Aixtic Ocean, a little east of the 

 Andei-son River, of North-west America. He found the nest on the 

 29th of June, 1863. It contained four fresh eggs, and the female wa,s 

 captured. The nest was slight, made of a little dn' gi'ass and leaves. 

 In 1876 Capt. Feildeu (not Pielden — J.A.C.) added further to our 

 knowledge concerning this interesting little bird. He found it breeding 

 at the extreme northern limit of anima.l life, on the shores of the frozen 

 ocean, a little to the west of Cape Union, in Grinnell Land. He obsei-ved 

 several pairs of birds, and found one nest containing two eggs, on the 

 24th of June. It was placed on a gravel ridge, several hundred feet 

 above sea level, and consisted merely of a slight depression in the centre 

 of a recumbent plant of willow, lined with a^ few dead leaves and some of 

 last year's catkins. At tliis nest the male wa.« killed, so that it appears 

 both parents assist in incubating tlie eggs. On the 8th pi August of 

 the same year he observed several parties of yoving Sanderlings, just able 

 to fly, with down sticking to their feathei-s, being led about by their 

 parents and searching diligently for insects." 



631. — LiMONiTES RUFicoLLis, Pallas. — (524) 

 Trim/a n/heaceiix, Temm. 



LITTLE STINT. 



Eigure. — Gould: Birdf of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 31. 

 Rcfercni-e. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. x-xiv., p. 545. 



Gengrnphiral D/strihuflrm. — Whole of Australia and Tasmania.; also 

 New Guinea and the Malayan Archipelago generally, migrating througli 

 Burma, China, and Japan to Eastern Siberia. 



Xexf a ltd Eggx. — Undescribcd. 



Oh-iervatioiis. — This exceedingly interesting little bird is the smallest 

 of otu' Sandpipers. We learn from Mr. Seebohm that it was first 

 described by the Russian naturalist, Pallas, in 1776, and that it breeds 

 in Eastern Siberia, passing by way of Lake Btikal, China, and Japan, 

 to winter in the Malayan Archipelago and Australia. The Little Stint, 

 or Least Sandpiper, is common during the summer in ever)' State, 

 including Tasmania. The shores of bracldsh swamps, salt lakes, 

 and estuaries are its favoured haunts, where it feeds on aquatic 

 insects (land and marine) and small shell-fish. As we see it in Australia 

 it has a simple dress — greyish or draI>coloun5d — light on the undcnuath 

 parts, with a faint (race of nisty mottle about the chest. Tlie wing 

 coverts arc; tipped with white. The bill and eyes arc dark-brown, while 

 the slender IcEfs are more of an olive-brown. The total lengfli of this 

 sprightly little Wader is just a trifle under six inches. Gilbert, the able 



