Malayan Ornithology. • 17 



rounded the island, affording feeding- grounds to hundreds of 

 shore-birds of all kinds ; so we landed, or rather waded ashore, 

 in hopes of getting at the Curlew and Plover, of which we 

 saw a great many ; but, as usual, the former were exceedingly 

 wary, and, without giving us the ghost of a chance, made ofE 

 to a distant sandbank, loudly littering their shrill cries, as if 

 to deride the unsuccessful sportsman and warn all other birds 

 of his approach/' 



NuMENius PH^opus (Linn.) . The Whimbrel. 



Flocks of Whimbrel frequent the coasts during the north- 

 east monsoon. In my notes I find : — 



" Singapore, 26th November, 1879. The other day, while 

 shooting Pigeons on Pulo Battam, we put up a large flock 

 of Whimbrel from the belt of mangroves bordering the shore, 



but did not get a chance at them ; but next day Mr. D 



bagged eight in two shots/' 



Tringa minuta, Leisl. The Little Stint, 



I shot one of these Stints on Pulo Battam, near Singa- 

 pore, on 25th November 1879 ; it was a male in winter 

 plumage, length about 6^ inches ; head and the upper parts 

 whitish brown, the feathers dark-shafted; the two central 

 tail-feathers dark brown, the others dusky, all narrowly edged 

 with white ; the underparts white, dusky on the breast ; bill 

 at front | inch, tarsus f , 



ToTANUS GLAREOLA (Linn.). The Spotted Sandpiper. 



This Sandpiper is by no means a rare bird ; I shot several 

 in Perak and in Singapore. A female, killed at Kota Lama, 

 Perak, on 19th April 1877, measured 9 inches, tarsus 1^, 

 beak at front ] J ; legs dull green ; irides dark brown ; head, 

 upper parts, and the wings dull brown, spotted with grey ; a 

 dusky streak passes from the base of the upper mandible to 

 the eye; supercilium and underparts white, dusky on the 

 breast and much streaked with brown ; the upper tail-coverts 

 pure white ; tail barred with dark brown. A specimen shot 

 in Singapore during November was less distinctly spotted 

 than the above. 



SER. IV. — VOL. vr. c 



