CHARADRIID.4^. 



5=^5 



THE LITTLE STINT. 



Tringa minuta, Leisler. 



The Little Stint arrives on the east side of England every autumn, 

 and again on the passage northward in spring. Its numbers on the 

 mud-flats of Norfolk are sometimes considerable, but on the 

 whole the British Islands appear to lie on the outskirts of the 

 chief line of flight pursued by this somewhat eastern species. On 

 the south coast this Stint is not very common, while westward its 

 occurrences are decidedly irregular, the sandy flats of Lancashire 

 and of the Solway district being the localities it most affects. In 

 Scotland, it occurs every autumn on the east coast as far north as 

 Aberdeenshire ; while it has recently been observed in considerable 

 numbers on the Moray Firth as well as in the Orkneys, and Saxby 

 met with it in the Shetlands ; but on the west side it is decidedly 

 rare. According to A. G. More, it is found every autumn in Ireland, 

 chiefly along the north-east shore, but is nowhere plentiful. 



On its autumnal migration this species visits the greater part of 

 Europe, and, except on the west coast of France, it is almost as abun- 

 dant on the spring-passage. It does not appear to winter in any numbers 

 on the northern side of the Mediterranean, though many individuals 

 remain in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt ; but the majority 

 make for the extreme south of Africa, the Seychelles, and Arabia, 

 crossing the great ranges of Asia on their way to the Indian region. 

 The breeding-grounds of the Little Stint were first discovered by 

 Middendorff in 1843, as far east as the Taimyr river, Siberia, in lat. 



