Dan Meinertzhagen's Diary. 8i 



the commoner Duck : one could any day — but 

 rarity and variety is our object. 



The Temminck's Stint is very common all 

 along the shores of the bay, and I have several 

 clutches already. They fly about, when the 

 sun is shining, exactly like a Lark, hovering 

 over places and uttering a twittering note, 

 which is apparently kept up the whole time 

 they are on the wing. They are absurdly 

 tame, sometimes flying by within a yard, and 

 settling close to one. They look scarcely 

 bigger than the House Martins which fly 

 about over the same area. 



June i^th. — We spent the night on the 

 marshes opposite the church, and birds of all 

 sorts were swarming ; Temminck's Stints, 

 Wood Sandpiper, Ruffs, Reeves, Greenshanks, 

 and Arctic Terns — all seemed to be screaming 

 at the same time. We picked up a dead Red- 

 necked Phalarope. This is the first we have 

 seen so far. We each shot three Temminck's 

 Stints and three Ruffs. The Temminck's 

 Stints are extraordinarily tame, moving about 

 like little mice in front of one, and one 

 scarcely likes to shoot them, in fact it is 

 pretty difficult to get far enough away. A 

 Short-eared Owl flew over within shot early 

 this morning. The young Hawk Owls are 



